I recently covered The Hollywood Reporter’s criticism of the Hallmark channel for being too white and Christmassy during the holiday season, but the network’s also been taking heat from a different side.
As reported by The Hill Thursday, tens of thousands of mothers had signed a petition to put the kibosh on LGBTQ-related content:
One Million Moms, a branch of the American Family Association, has posted a petition of complaint after Hallmark aired a Zola commercial that featured a lesbian couple getting married and sharing a kiss.
Nearly 22,000 people had come on board to insist Hallmark was drifting from its “family-friendly” foundation.
As per the petition, the channel’s floating toward an agenda:
Until recently, Hallmark had a good record for keeping their movies and commercials family-friendly. 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. Parents need to know they could now come face-to-face with the LGBT agenda when they sit down to watch the Hallmark Channel.
A couple accounts from shocked viewers were spotlighted:
“Why would you show a lesbian wedding commercial on the Hallmark Channel? Hallmark movies are family friendly, and you ruined it with the commercial.”
“Our family was watching a wonderful Hallmark movie based on a true story. It was late, but our daughter was up late with us. During the commercial break, there was a commercial from Zola with two women lip locking! Please, Hallmark…we are fed up with having the gay agenda crammed down our throats! You are one of the few channels we thought we would not have to deal with this issue! Please remove this and any other gay, lesbian, bisexual, or anything else it is called from your channels. We love you but won’t keep watching with this type of ads.”
All this, by the way, followed Hallmark Vice President of Programming Michelle Vicary telling The Wrap it’ll be developing gay content soon.
But has that been stayed now? One Million Moms has spoken with Hallmark parent company Crown Media Family Networks CEO Bill Abbott, and he’s confirmed the commercial’s been pulled.
Bill claims the ad was aired by mistake to begin with, and that he learned of the error via word of the petition.
1MM is celebrating victory and thanking its readers:
The call to our office gave us the opportunity to also confirm the Hallmark Channel will continue to be a safe and family friendly network. Praise the Lord!
1MM thanked him on behalf of all our supporters. We appreciate their prompt response and cooperation. No further action is needed! You are making a HUGE difference!
But will it last? Is it merely a matter of time before the network opens its programming to gay and lesbian storylines?
Only time will tell.
The Hallmark situation comes soon after a pressured Chick-fil-A severed ties with that cauldron of controversy, The Salvation Army.
Cries of injustice are swarming ’round. Who’s next?
For the moment, if you’re a bride-to-be looking for a great registry with your future wife, you won’t likely find it on the Hallmark channel.
If you’re watching.
Are you?
-ALEX
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