The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has a float in this year's Rose Parade for the third year in a row, and will feature a live gay wedding, the organization reports:
Following a United States Supreme Court ruling in June that allowed same-sex marriages to resume in California, AHF's float this year will celebrate same-sex marriage and the role it can play in helping to reduce new HIV infections among gay men. As part of its ‘Love is the Best Protection' theme, AHF's float will include what is believed to be a first: a same-sex wedding performed live during the parade. In 2013, the Rose Parade attracted approximately 700,000 attendees, aired live nationally on eight networks to 56 million viewers, and was televised in 174 countries for an additional 28 million international viewers.
Playing off the Tournament's 2014 theme of ‘Dreams Come True,' Aubrey Loots, 42, and Danny Leclair, 45, a gay male couple from Los Angeles together over a decade, will be ‘Living the Dream' as they legally marry on New Year's Day during the historic parade. AHF's ‘Living the Dream' float will highlight the fact that ‘Love is the Best Protection.'
Loots, originally from South Africa, and Leclair, from Canada, together own Studio DNA Salons, a chain of three successful L.A. area hair salons. Loots also shares the distinction of being recognized as a Wella Top Artist, who serves celebrity and civilian clients alike while his soon to be husband manages the day to day operations.
The Rose Parade takes place on New Year's Day.
