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Tens of thousands of people have signed on to a petition calling on the Hallmark channel to “reject” LGBTQ content after the network aired an advertisement that featured a lesbian couple getting married and sharing a kiss.
One Million Moms, a branch of the anti-LGBTQ American Family Association, shared a petition of complaint after Hallmark aired a Zola commercial featuring a lesbian couple
The petition, titled: “Hallmark is now airing LGBT commercials, open to LGBT movies,” had almost 23,000 signatures as of Thursday evening.
The petition requests that the channel “stay true to its family friendly roots” and avoid sexual content, “including the promotion of homosexuality,” in both its movies and commercials.
“Until recently, Hallmark had a good record for keeping their movies and commercials family friendly,” the petition says. “Now, parents can no longer trust Hallmark because Hallmark is no longer allowing parents to be the primary educators when it comes to sex and sexual morality.”
One viewer quoted by the anti-LGBTQ organization commented that they are “fed up with having the gay agenda crammed down our throats!”
“We love you but won’t keep watching with this type of ads,” the viewer said.
“Why would you show a lesbian wedding commercial on the Hallmark Channel? Hallmark movies are family friendly, and you ruined it with the commercial,” said another.
The petition also targets comments made by Michelle Vicary, vice president of programming at the channel, in a recent interview with The Wrap. Vicary said that the channel is exploring developing LGBTQ movies.
“We are continuing to expand our diversity,” she told The Wrap. “We are looking at pitches for LGBT movies.”
“We look at a variety of different things, so we’re always looking for the best stories that we think will resonate in the best way,” confirmed Crown Media Family Networks CEO Bill Abbott. “And so we’re open to really any type of movie of any type of relationship in any space.”
Conservative website LifeSite published a separate petition that it says has more than 25,000 signatures demanding the channel avoid LGBTQ content in their Christmas movies to “protect children’s innocence this Christmas.”
Zola’s chief marketing officer Mike Chi told Yahoo Lifestyle that the released ad is meant to represent the company’s diverse customers.
“We’ve always represented a diverse set of couples in all of our marketing messages because that’s representative of the couples who are getting married today and the couples who use Zola,” Chi said. “They come from all types of backgrounds, and the goal of this campaign was to show Zola’s here to help any couple who is choosing to celebrate their love.”
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