COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A Christmas parade controversy has taken over Cookeville after a new group of churches started to organize the holiday celebration.

The float application included a “Statement of Faith” participants are required to recognize. The statements include several conservative Christian values and beliefs around gay marriage, sexuality and abortion.

A copy of the application obtained by WSMV lists the River Community Church, Bluwaters Rentals and Life Church as the groups organizing the parade this year. The application for their “Celebrating the Light of CHRISTmas” event was posted on a Facebook page that was cleared after the controversy started.

This is the first time the church group has worked on the city’s Christmas celebration. The Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce used to organize a parade board but decided to back away after the committee voted to deny a float application from a Pride group.

“The 2023 decision that was made by the committee did not match the values of our chamber staff,” president and CEO Amy New said in a statement. “There was a litany of malicious attacks and false allegations against me, my family, staff and our organization. The Chamber board decided not to participate in any parade committees moving forward.”

The Upper Cumberland Pride group was unable to get any information about the decision to not allow their float that included an elf, gingerbread man, snowman and rainbow-colored candy canes. Leaders told WSMV they are “disheartened and appalled” by the discrimination shown by the new parade organizers.

“Many members of the LGBTQIA+ community are Christians and are people who celebrate Christmas,” Upper Cumberland Pride said in a statement. “They have families who deserve representation. Not to mention the other religions that also have wintertime celebrations embedded in their culture.”

“Discrimination against ANY group of people is the antithesis of what Jesus taught,” the organization’s statement continued. “The Bible says to love one another and do no harm. This is intentional harm, and unacceptable.”

Cookeville city leaders said the parade has been put on for decades by a private group. The city simply grants its permit applications and welcomes people to celebrate the holiday tradition.

In a joint statement by Mayor Laurin Wheaton and City Council members, the city said it had nothing to do with the parade’s transition to these local church leaders or the rules surrounding float applications.

“It is extremely unfortunate that something like a Christmas parade has become such a controversial event in this day and time, but the City of Cookeville government is not involved with this event at all,” the city leaders said in a post on social media.

Cookeville small business owner Montana Chambers said she and many other people simply could not agree in good conscious with the statements on the application. She said the parade was a holiday event everyone in the community wanted to be a part of until now.

Chambers is helping organize another Christmas parade that will be all-inclusive while showing that Cookeville is a very welcoming and supportive community.

“I was very sad and disappointed because it felt very exclusionary towards some members of our community,” Chambers said about the float rules. “We wanted to just uplift our community, include everyone.”

In just a couple of days, the GoFundMe set up by Chambers’ group has raised more than six times the amount needed to hold the parade. Cookeville charges a $100 parade permit fee and a refundable $250 cleaning fee, City Manager James Mills told WSMV.

The inclusive group is in the process of finalizing their permit information, Chambers said, including selecting a date for the Christmas celebration. Local businesses and community leaders have also offered to help them with the event.

“Everybody has been very positive,” Chambers said. “Everybody really came together and was really ready to help, very supportive.”

The church group’s parade was scheduled for Saturday, December 14, according to the application. Mills said they have not filed any parade permits as of Tuesday afternoon.

WSMV4 attempted to contact the church group multiple times for this story, but our calls and emails were not returned by the deadline.