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Updated Friday, 3:30 p.m. PST
The Georgia Aquarium got back to us regarding Jane Lynch's uber-polite request that the Atlanta Pride organizers move their kickoff event to another venue.
Their response is filled with pure Southern gentility (seriously, they're very polite), but we here at Instinct are loosely translating it as saying "Bitch, please."
They address Lynch's concerns after the jump.
Scott Higley, the Vice President of Marketing & Communications at the Georgia Aquarium (and who provided us with this nifty pic of Jane and a dolphin-friend!) writes:
"We think that Ms. Lynch, who is a friend of ours and visited our facility with her family in the summer of 2011 (see attached photo), has been given some inaccurate and distorted information by a particular animal rights extremist group with questionable credibility and a history of public relations stunts, which is unfortunate. She has never attended the event for which she is advocating a move, so she would not know how we strictly monitor music volume and sound levels – levels which were determined and are strictly monitored based on what the scientific community knows about the hearing thresholds in certain marine mammals. So we’ll certainly give her the benefit of the doubt!
In any case, when given the facts, I’m certain she will understand that even during the events we hold here in our state-of-the-art facility, the world’s largest aquarium, our animal care experts (with a combined hundreds of years of experience in caring for aquatic animals) always place the welfare and well-being of our animals first."
Sounds like the party's on. What do you think about the Georgia Aquarium's decision and their response to Jane Lynch, Instincters? And will that shade they're throwing at PETA protect the entire city from the Hotlanta sunshine?
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Original Post
Jane Lynch, easily the nicest, most understanding celebrity PETA advocate, has sent a letter to Atlanta Pride organizers asking them to move their annual kickoff party away from the Georgia Aquarium.
Writes Jane in an appeal to organizers:
Greetings! I hope you are well. I know that you are probably swamped because Pride is coming up in October, but I hope you'll spare a few moments to consider a suggestion for the opening-night party.
I heard from my friends at PETA, a longtime local Pride sponsor, that Atlanta throws one of the best Pride celebrations but that the kickoff party is at the Georgia Aquarium again this year. I'm hoping that you can choose an alternative venue. These parties are supposed to be loud and boisterous—it's a celebration! However, animals shouldn't have to suffer for the sake of a party. Many of the marine mammals at the aquarium are extremely sensitive to sound, and large parties create an even more stressful environment than they already endure in captivity. Animals such as beluga whales and dolphins communicate with one another by means of an intricate sonar system. The excess noise disorients them, thwarts their ability to communicate, and sometimes causes them to attack one another—as employees of the Georgia Aquarium have revealed. Given the animals' extreme sensitivity to noise, the aquarium does not seem like an appropriate venue for such a large and festive gathering.
Since the kickoff party sets the tone for all of Pride, will you please consider moving it to one of the many alternative venues that Atlanta has to offer? Thank you so much for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Jane Lynch
It's not the first time Atlanta Pride's kickoff event has swirled in controversy. Last year PETA's VP Dan Mathews (the top level gay who provoked Lady Gaga to defend her newfound affinity for fur) wrote a blistering editorial about the event in Huffington Post.
We've contacted the Georgia Aquarium for comment and will update this story accordingly.
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