Sarah McConnell wasn’t expecting to explain what condoms are to her 8-year-old son on the Fourth of July.
But the Ouray business owner found herself doing so, after he opened what he thought was a balloon attached to candy he obtained at the Independence Day parade.
The star-shaped lollipop came attached to the condom, which had a wrapper that looked a bit like a donut.
Her son said a woman with a basket handed two of them to him, and McConnell’s friend confirmed she saw it happen.
The free “condom pops” handed out by a reproductive rights group that participated in the parade have become a flash point, sparking angry feedback from people who felt a family-friendly parade wasn’t an appropriate venue.
One of the reproductive rights group’s organizers, Ouray business owner Heather Toth, said it was never their intent to distribute the condoms to kids. The group had two participants who had these condom pops, candy attached to condoms, that were only intended for adults and it was just supposed to be a fun thing to hand out.
“We thought, what a fun and playful nod to reproductive rights,” she said.
The participants had a separate bag of candy for children, and in some cases would separate the condoms from the lollipops, handing the candy to the kids and the condoms to adults.
She said the group never intended for children to receive the condoms. She said the participants were instructed not to throw them to the crowd, for this very reason.
“I can say with 100 percent certainty, it was never our intent for that to happen and it was never our intent to deceive people,” she said.
McConnell said she’s not against providing condoms to people but she didn’t expect her kid to receive them at a parade.
“You want to put free condoms at Public Health? Fine, be my guest,” she said. “I encourage condoms, I think they’re a good thing.”
However, McConnell and others questioned whether the free condoms should have been attached to candy and handed out at the Fourth of July parade – something they weren’t expecting.
The reaction to kids getting their hands on these condoms attached to candy was swift and angry.
One online post asked how a 6-year-old girl obtained a condom at the parade. Some demanded to know how this was allowed in the parade, a loosely organized event with participants just knowing where to line up every year. There isn’t an official approval process to participate. Others demanded charges against those who distributed the condom pops, though it’s not illegal.
Responses flooded in, some expressing disgust and others demanding retribution or violence.
“Get a rope,” one wrote.
“If I’d have seen that I’d prob be in jail,” another wrote.
Others urged Fox News to cover the issue.
“Some people are being very vocal and responding with some very hateful rhetoric,” Toth said. “What our intentions were did not land with some people.”
The Ouray County Pride group also received negative feedback from the condom pop distribution, though they did not participate in this themselves.
The two parade vehicles were next to each other in the procession, and both had rainbow flags and some other similar decorations. But the reproductive rights group was the one that was distributing the condoms with candy – not Ouray County Pride.
“We’re not trying to push anything sexual on children and that’s a stereotype that we’re constantly fighting against,” said Tera Wick of Ridgway, a Pride volunteer and parent. “Pride is about being safe and accepted and being their authentic selves.”
Wick said she’s concerned about the backlash against her group, and that the condom pops were inaccurately associated with the Pride group. She also said their “free to be me” float had nothing sexual about it, but it may have been hard for the crowd to differentiate between the participants.
“There were multiple trucks all together and rainbow flags everywhere so I can see how it would have been easy to conflate the two,” she said.
Though she supports the reproductive rights group’s initiative, she said, “I think it probably was a mistake to tape condoms to lollipops. I can see where that might make people uncomfortable. I can respect that as a parent. I can see why that might have landed weird.”
Ultimately, Wick said she hopes people understand Ouray County Pride wasn’t the group behind the condom pop distribution. Ouray County’s second-annual Pride celebration is coming up on Saturday in Ridgway and she wants to make clear that event has nothing to do with sex.
“Pride is not about sex. It’s about being able to be who you are,” she said.
