OTTUMWA, Iowa — The City of Ottumwa approved a proclamation that honors traditional marriage for a Traditional Marriage Parade that will take place Saturday, August 23.

Travis Decker, the parade organizer, said that he came up with the idea to hold the Traditional Marriage Parade following Pride Month in June.

“We saw back in June there was a proclamation done and we were familiar with that. It was done for, for Pride Month. And the idea of the city was saying, okay, here’s one group of people with their ideas and their values. And a city consists of multiple groups of people with a variety of different things and values. And we thought, well, we want to, we want to also get a proclamation, do a special thing promoting our values. And so it’s not a, it’s not an idea of targeting someone, it’s an idea of promoting something that we hold dear to our heart,” Decker said.

Decker submitted a proclamation to the city but it was denied on the basis that it wasn’t inclusive of other types of marriage. Decker then summited a revised version that acknowledged other types of marriage in Iowa that the city approved.

Kristen Payne, the Board President of Ottumwa Pride, said she wasn’t comfortable with the traditional marriage proclamation.

“I’m more concerned about the city making proclamations having to do with marriage. That’s, that’s a real issue. Anyone can throw a parade. Enjoy your parade. But when we get politics mixed up and endorsing things like that, that are so personal, it just gives me pause,” Payne said.

Payne said that the proclamation brings bad optics to Ottumwa.

“This is all over the country and not in a positive light. People are actively making fun of us and this is what we are showing to the world stage that we accept and that we condone. And it’s not true,” Payne said.

The Traditional Marriage Parade starts at 10 a.m. in downtown Ottumwa on Saturday.