A West Virginia mayor kicked a Pagan group out of a Christmas parade

The Appalachian Pagan Ministry was told their religious affiliation was the reason they couldn't participate in the Parkersburg Christmas Parade

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A Pagan organization has been rejected from a Christmas parade that appears to be sponsored by the city of Parkersburg, West Virginia, a move that likely violates anti-discrimination laws.

Santa Claus in a parade (Image via Adobe Spark)

The Parkersburg Christmas Parade is taking place on Saturday afternoon, and the city posted an application on its website for any groups that want to have a float in the festivities. It’s a short application—you just have to provide contact information and describe your float—and there’s no fee involved. Groups just have to make a donation of 15 nonperishable items for local food pantries. (Nice!)

There’s also a brief disclaimer that says the city can’t be held liable for any damages that occur through participation in the event, which suggests the city is sponsoring the parade.

One thing you won’t find in the application is any reference to religion. This isn’t a Christian parade by any means; it appears to be all-inclusive.

That’s why the Appalachian Pagan Ministry decided to participate. A couple of weeks ago, they submitted their form explaining who they are:

Appalachian Pagan Ministry is a registered 501c3 non-profit dedicated to serving those of non-Abrahamic beliefs who are incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and/or in recovery. They sponsor the Heilvegr Heathens of Parkersburg who hold 9-step recovery meetings based on the Nine Noble Virtues. Together, they also hold outreaches in our community and promote harm reduction.

Seemed perfectly fine! But they never heard back in the days to follow. It was only after the group’s founder, Rev. Donna Donovan, reached out about the status of their form that she was told the city didn’t want to work with her. Speaking on the phone with organizers Lori Ullmann and John Chalfant, she was told the problem was her her group’s Pagan identity and because “your website states you work with Satanists.” (Update: The organizers were explaining the mayor’s thinking, not their own, and I urge readers not to call and harass them.)

Donovan told me she explained that rejecting her group on account of their religious label was clear discrimination and that she would get in touch with legal groups that handle those cases if they were rejected, but the organizers later told her the rejection was still in place.

In an email, they said that “after communication with the Mayor of Parkersburg,” the group’s entry into the parade “is being refused.”

(Roberts and Chalfant did not response to a request for comment. Neither did Mayor Tom Joyce, who just got re-elected to his third term in office.)

I was curious if the group’s proposed float might have been offensive in any way, but when Donovan described it to me last night, it became obvious it was as family-friendly as you could have imagined.

It involved a Christmas tree, a reindeer costumes, hats, candy, lights, and gnomes. (Gnomes!)

Gnomes! (Picture courtesy of Donna Donovan)

None of that came cheap. Donovan wouldn’t tell me how much they spent, but a press release said the rejection came “after much expense.”

She added that the discrimination “contradicts the spirit of inclusivity and community that the holiday season represents.”

"We had hoped to celebrate the season alongside our neighbors by sharing a message of peace, love, and light — values that align with our spiritual beliefs and the broader ideals of the holidays," said Donna Donovan, a representative of Appalachian Pagan Ministry. "Instead, we have been met with prejudice, and our community has been told that we are not welcome simply because of our faith."

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The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the right to participate in public events without discrimination. Excluding APM from the Parkersburg Christmas Parade undermines these rights and sets a harmful precedent for the exclusion of other minority faiths.

We call on the Parkersburg WV community and parade organizers to reconsider their stance and take meaningful steps toward fostering inclusivity and mutual respect. Appalachian Pagan Ministry remains open to dialogue and hopes this incident will spark necessary conversations about equality and acceptance within our community.

Speaking of inclusivity, the group settled on the generic Christmas theme precisely because they didn’t want to alienate anyone in the community. (A Krampus-themed float was rejected by the group for that very reason.) They wanted to participate in the event as a way for members to bond and to introduce themselves to the community.

No lawsuit has been filed yet. But Donovan told me people have been asking her what they can do to help. Her answer was curt: “We need elected officials to understand constitutional law.” Beyond voting, though, she just urged people to become active in their communities by volunteering, feeding the hungry, and helping the unhoused. Her group is planning to do those things over the holidays regardless of how the parade controversy shakes out.

“People hate what they fear and fear is based on ignorance,” she told me. “The only way to eradicate hate is to educate.”

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Incidentally, it’s been damn near impossible to figure out who’s sponsoring the parade. The city is obviously promoting it, and has a liability clause in the application, but a Facebook post from this past October said “the parade is not organized by the City.”

A separate post on the “Downtown PKB” Facebook page said Lori Ullmann oversaw the parade:

And yet when Donovan spoke to Ullmann over the phone this week, it seemed like the mayor, not Ullmann, was the one making the final call on the Pagan group’s participation.

Donovan has reached out to multiple organizations that handle religious freedom cases to consider possible next steps.

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