The wedding planning website Zola said Saturday it will pull all of its advertising from the Hallmark Channel “for the foreseeable future” after the network told the company it would no longer air four of six its commercials that feature a lesbian couple celebrating their nuptials with a kiss.
Hallmark made the decision to pull the ads, which were first seen on the channel on Dec. 2, after a conservative group called for a boycott of the network.
“We stand behind this commercial 150%,” a representative for Zola said in a statement. “We want all couples to feel welcomed and celebrated and we will always feature all kinds of love in our marketing.”
“The only difference between the commercials that were flagged and the ones that were approved was that the commercials that did not meet Hallmark’s standards included a lesbian couple kissing,” Mike Chi, the chief marketing officer of Zola, said. “Hallmark approved a commercial where a heterosexual couple kissed. All kisses, couples and marriages are equal celebrations of love and we will no longer be advertising on Hallmark.”
A spokesperson for Hallmark told The New York Times the two women’s “public displays of affection” in the ad violates the channel’s policies. An account representative at Hallmark’s parent company, Crown Media, also told the Times that the channel did not accept ads “that are deemed controversial.”
The idea behind the series of commercials is that various configurations of couples wonder what their wedding would have been like if it had been planned through the custom wedding website Zola. One of the ads features a lesbian couple.
The conservative group One Million Moms said that it had spoken with Crown Media Family Networks CEO Bill Abbott to confirm the ads featuring a same-sex couple were pulled from the network.
“He reported the advertisement aired in error, but he was informed about it after hearing from concerned 1MM supporters. Way to go,” One Million Moms wrote on its website. “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!”
One Million Moms is a division of the American Family Association whose mission is to “stop the exploitation of our children, especially by the entertainment media.” Despite its name, the group has just 4,000 followers on its Twitter account.
“The debate surrounding these commercials on all sides was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value,” a Hallmark spokesman said in a Friday statement.
GLAAD on Saturday issued a statement condemning the decision by Hallmark to pull the LGBTQ-friendly ads.
“The Hallmark Channel’s decision to remove LGBTQ families in such a blatant way is discriminatory and especially hypocritical coming from a network that claims to present family programming and also recently stated they are ‘open’ to LGBTQ holiday movies,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement. “As so many other TV and cable networks showcase, LGBTQ families are part of family programming. Advertisers on The Hallmark Channel should see this news and question whether they want to be associated with a network that chooses to bow to fringe anti-LGBTQ activist groups, which solely exist to harm LGBTQ families.”
10 Best LGBTQ Films of the 2010s, From 'Moonlight' to 'Call Me by Your Name' (Photos)
Whether a curse or a blessing, “May you live in interesting times” certainly applies to the LGBTQ community -- the past decade saw the legalization of same-sex marriages and the end of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but every advancement has been met with pushback and threats to overturn equal protections under the law. Trans characters (played, for a change, by trans performers) got their largest public spotlight on television shows like “Pose” and “Transparent,” while at the same time they remain the targets of violence and of hysterical and reactionary lawmakers. Whatever triumphs and travails the community faced in day-to-day life, their lives and loves continued to be reflected on the big screen; here are some of the decade’s greatest examples, listed alphabetically.
Runners-Up: “1985,” “Appropriate Behavior,” “Booksmart,” “BPM,” “Cola de Mono,” “Drunktown’s Finest,” “Kiki,” “Love, Simon,” “Paris 05:59 Théo & Hugo,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”
“Call Me by Your Name” and “Carol” (2017/2015) One was set in the relatively permissive 1980s and the other in the restrictive 1950s, but both films were gorgeous portraits of aching longing and rapturous passion among the wealthy and artistic. These were lush dramas that scratched an old-movie itch while taking a very contemporary look at same-sex relationships.
Sony/The Weinstein Company
“Concussion” (2015) This unpredictable tale of a lesbian housewife shaking off the suburbs for sophisticated sex work had the erotic moxie of “Belle de Jour” and the knowing, arch qualities of “The Stepford Wives,” but it also represented the arrival of an important new voice -- writer-director Stacie Passon, making one of the decade’s most exciting debuts.
RADiUS-TWC
“The Handmaiden” (2016) Park Chan-wook transferred Sarah Waters’ novel “Fingersmith” from Victorian England to Japanese-occupied Korea, but the psychological gamesmanship and breathless lesbian eroticism remained intact. Boasting gorgeous production values and a script where characters are constantly gaining and losing the upper hand, this was a riveting thriller that took queer relationships as a given, even in what we think of as the buttoned-down olden times.
Amazon Studios
“How to Survive a Plague” (2012) David France’s incredibly vital piece of activist cinema documented the rise of ACT UP in New York City in the 1980s, and how the members of that group fought the system -- before, essentially, taking it over themselves -- as the U.S. government and pharmaceutical industry turned its back on people with HIV and AIDS. It’s one of the great “yes, you can fight city hall” documentaries ever made.
IFC
“Moonlight” (2016) The subtle ways in which children come to understand -- and are taught to be afraid of -- their true selves, and the obstacles for adults seeking to overcome a lifetime of negative messaging are just some of the threads that weave their way through this gorgeous tapestry of a life, as portrayed brilliantly by three actors and captured by writer Tarell Alvin McCraney and director Barry Jenkins.
A24
“Pain and Glory” (2019) Legendary filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar offered some of his most tenderly romantic moments late in this autobiographical film, as director Salvador (Antonio Banderas) has an unexpected reunion, decades later, with his onetime lover. In just a few scenes, the two convey the depth and breadth of a relationship, from beginning to inevitable end, and it helps provide the full picture of Salvador, an artist whose past provides the possibility of unlocking his creative block.
Sony
“Take Me to the River” (2014) What starts out as a dark comedy about a gay California teenager forced to attend a family reunion in Nebraska unfurls into an unsettling thriller about family secrets and unresolved longings. Writer-director Matt Sobel subtly but inexorably tightens the vise, and it’s not until the closing credits roll that you allow yourself to exhale fully again.
Netflix
“Tangerine” (2015) A Christmas Eve in the lives of two trans sex workers (played memorably by Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) provides a glimpse into both the grind of their day-to-day existence and their hopes and dreams. The leads consulted on the script, and the results are both quotidian and poetic.
Magnolia Pictures
“Weekend” (2011) Writer-director Andrew Haigh (“45 Years”) starts with a simple premise -- two guys meet and hit it off, just as one of them is about to leave the country -- and turns it into a riveting two-hander, with Tom Cullen and Chris New capturing those moments of connection and curiosity and chemistry that mark the beginning of every new relationship, even as we know this one will end before it can even really start.
Sundance Selects
1 of 11
”Pain and Glory,“ ”Carol“ and ”How to Survive a Plague“ rank among the highlights of the decade
Whether a curse or a blessing, “May you live in interesting times” certainly applies to the LGBTQ community -- the past decade saw the legalization of same-sex marriages and the end of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but every advancement has been met with pushback and threats to overturn equal protections under the law. Trans characters (played, for a change, by trans performers) got their largest public spotlight on television shows like “Pose” and “Transparent,” while at the same time they remain the targets of violence and of hysterical and reactionary lawmakers. Whatever triumphs and travails the community faced in day-to-day life, their lives and loves continued to be reflected on the big screen; here are some of the decade’s greatest examples, listed alphabetically.