"One Million Moms" (OMM) has been a thorn in the side of LGBTQ+ people since its founding 35 years ago in Tupelo, Mississippi.
The group—which is well shy of their claim of one million members—consistently files complaints about any sort of representation in film, television or ad campaigns.
The group gained its greatest notoriety calling for a boycott of JC Penney's for featuring Ellen DeGeneres in their ads. DeGeneres' talk show entered its 16th year on the air in September 2019.
OMM's campaign against DeGeneres proved less than successful.
Unfortunately, sometimes their campaigns get enough traction and are successful—as was the sad case with a Hallmark Channel commercial featuring a lesbian wedding.
The commercial, for wedding planning website Zola, depicts a same-sex couple at the altar discussing how Zola made their lives easier planning for the wedding, before kissing and walking down the aisle.
Watch the commercial here:
Zola | Easy Wedding Planning | TV Ad Spot www.youtube.com
OMM (founded by the American Family Association, which has been labeled as a homophobic and transphobic hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre since 2010) said that the airing of the commercial soiled Hallmark's status as "family friendly."
"Family entertainment is not the outlet in which to be politically correct by forcing tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality—a sinful lifestyle that Scripture clearly deems as wrong. You can read so in Romans 1:18-32."
FYI: that scripture reference refers to Temple Whores, a holdover from pagan religions and makes no mention of lesbians
"One Million Moms is asking Hallmark to stay true to its family friendly roots that so many families have grown to love, and to keep sex and sexual content—including the promotion of homosexuality—out of its programming."
Crown Media Family Networks (which owns The Hallmark Channel) CEO Bill Abbott pulled the commercial from airing shortly after OMM aired its grievances.
Zola directed a second ad, nearly identical to the "controversial" ad, that featured a heterosexual couple.
That ad was not removed by The Hallmark Channel. Zola decided to pull all of their ads from the network however in protest over the homophobic reaction to the one ad.
Pete Buttigieg, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, said of THC's decision:
"Families are built on love—no matter what they look like. Being 'family friendly' means honoring love, not censoring difference. This truth will be more important than ever as we rebuild our nation into a place defined by belonging, not by exclusion."
Strangely enough, The Hallmark Channel reversed its course on this again after Zola pulled ads from the network, and decided to reinstate all of the ads.
Said Mike Perry, president and CEO of Hallmark Cards:
"The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials. Across our brand, we will continue to look for ways to be more inclusive and celebrate our differences."
This back-and-forth seems to show the value of potential boycotts in response to the boycott calls supporting bigotry by hate groups like One Million Moms, as Hallmark and all associated made these decisions within a couple of days.
Perhaps one day, this kind of whiplash won't be necessary.
