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Alabama, a state with a deep well of faith and tradition, seems to grapple with an unshakable shadow — hate toward those who dare to be different. Hate toward those who are gay, transgender, or members of the LGBTQ+ community. Hate that feels as old and entrenched as the soil beneath our feet.
The group Clean Up Alabama is dragging us backward, as though their mission is to revive old prejudices that Alabama has worked to overcome — a skill we honed all too well during the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Back then, the same prejudices excluded Black citizens from restaurants, schools, and even parades. Today, the target has shifted, but the playbook remains the same.
Their latest salvo in this ongoing culture war? A campaign to exclude an LGBTQ+ group from the Prattville Christmas parade. Their reasoning? “The Christmas parade is a celebration of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ the Messiah. It is NOT a time to celebrate someone’s sexual preferences. And it is certainly not a place for a drag show.”
It’s hard to reconcile such rhetoric with the teachings of the very Messiah they claim to honor. Where is the love, the compassion, the forgiveness? The claim that their actions “protect the children of Prattville” rings hollow, a smokescreen for the fear and hate lurking behind their words.
Clean Up Alabama’s crusade includes bombarding city officials with emails, pressuring them to turn Christmas into a weapon of exclusion rather than a beacon of joy. Perhaps they think Santa Claus is as anti-LGBTQ+ as they are — but Santa and his elves spend their days spreading joy, not exclusion. Maybe Clean Up Alabama could learn from their example.
Even the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the rights of same-sex couples to marry, and Congress has codified protections against discrimination. Yet, just as rulings and laws didn’t erase bigotry toward Black Americans in the civil rights era, these advances haven’t eliminated the prejudice that continues to fester in our communities. If anything, these legal protections shine a spotlight on the dissonance between progress and resistance.
The so-called moral guardians of Clean Up Alabama might consider turning their energy inward, reflecting on the profound dissonance between their faith and their actions. Christmas is a season for love, generosity, and peace — not the kind of small-minded hate that shrinks hearts and divides communities.
This is a season that should bring people together, not rip them apart. Clean Up Alabama’s obsession with exclusion isn’t cleansing anything; it’s a plague staining our society. If they’re so concerned about purity, perhaps they should clean up the hatred in their own hearts first.
Let us rise above this darkness. Let the better angels of Christmas prevail. Let us remember that no one owns Christmas — it belongs to all of us, no matter who we love, how we look, or how we choose to celebrate. The beauty of the season is in its diversity, its power to uplift, and its ability to remind us of the shared humanity that binds us all.
This holiday season, let’s reject the divisiveness of Clean Up Alabama’s crusade. Let’s choose love, kindness, and unity, living the true spirit of Christmas.
Even the elves would agree.
