A parade set for this Saturday in Ottumwa is dividing the small southeastern Iowa city, with supporters calling it a celebration of traditional marriage, and opponents denouncing it as exclusionary. The community of about 25,000, split by the Des Moines River, has been at the center of a heated debate since leaders approved a proclamation recognizing traditional marriage.
What the proclamation declares
According to KCCI, the proclamation states, “the history of traditional marriage is as old as history itself, beginning with one man and one woman.” It goes on to say, “a loving, caring father and mother in the home, who are married and committed to one another, is one way of leading to a strong outcome for good mental health… in children.“
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The proclamation passed on Tuesday by a 4-1 vote, with council member Cara Galloway voting against it.
The Ottumwa Courier says Galloway offered this rationale, “Proclamations should be about lifting people up and not tearing our community apart, and right now that’s what these proclamations are doing. They’re tearing our community apart. If proclamations continue to cause more controversy than celebration, then maybe we need to look at not doing proclamations.”
Supporters say it’s about values
Backers of Saturday’s parade insist it is not meant as an attack on LGBTQ+ residents.
Travis Decker, a local Baptist minister and one of the leading organizers, told city leaders, “It is our goal to just promote one good thing. Ideals and values that we agree with, it’s not an attack on another group of people.“
Supporter Colleen Decker added, “Marriage is important and I don’t see anything hateful about wanting to celebrate that.”
Parade invitations, shared by the Ottumwa Radio Group, resemble wedding announcements. The event begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, with participants urged to decorate their cars with symbols of marriage and words like “purity” and “fidelity.”
LGBTQ+ community pushes back
Local LGBTQ+ advocates say the event sends a harmful message. Kristen Payne, president of Ottumwa Pride, said, “It’s a message of exclusion, and this is celebrating pushing other people out.”
“This is gaining traction across the country and on social media,” she said. “We are being made fun of. This is how we are representing our community right now, and it’s embarrassing.”
Payne argued that supporters of traditional marriage “have never been marginalized or discriminated against for having a traditional marriage.”
The Ottumwa Council has also passed a Pride month proclamation recognizing the LBGTQ+ community, though it did not specifically mention same-sex marriage.
Community split
Council member Bill Hoffman Jr. defended supporting both proclamations, saying it was about protecting everyone’s right to assemble. Meanwhile, local business owner Norman Ward said he faced backlash for siding with traditional marriage.
“There’s been a lot of hate, and personally, I have not seen it coming from those who are in favor of a traditional marriage. It has come from the other side,” he said. “There’s a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation put out there.”
The Ottumwa Courier reports the traditional marriage push came largely in response to June’s Pride month celebrations, highlighting a growing divide in the community over representation and inclusion.
