The traditional Rose Parade in Pasadena took place on Jan. 1 and, like every year, the popular parade managed to gather thousands of people.
Besides the traditional floats that paraded through Pasadena, this year's edition which adopted the motto "Dreams come true", was not free of controversies since a group of people tried to stop two men from getting married during one of the most important moments of this year's parade.
Aubrey Loots and Danny Leclair were the first men to get married during the popular parade. The historic moment angered various conservative groups that tried to boycott the act; however, despite these attempts, the couple was able to marry on one of the floats.
According to The Huffington Post, Loots and Leclair have been together for over ten years, and decided to get married in front of millions of TV viewers and 700,000 people in Pasadena.
The same source said that the float on which the happy couple travelled on, a giant wedding cake, was sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Fund, an organization that provides services to people infected with AIDS in the U.S.
"I couldn't pass up the opportunity to declare my love and commitment to who is soon going to be my husband, and to have the world as a witness. This is an opportunity to celebrate the long path to marriage equality for homosexuals, and honor those who were here before us," Leclair wrote on his Facebook account a few days before the wedding took place, according to ABC.
Despite the act being warmly welcomed by many of those present, it also angered a group of conservatives who considered the marriage offensive. According to The Huffington Post, Karen Grube, from San Diego, organized an initiative to boycott the ceremony through social networks, while other people were outraged over the marriage between the two men.