Exclusive

Project Runway's Tim Gunn Wants to Make It Work for Whales, Urges Gay Pride Event to Change Locations

Exclusive! The reality-TV fashionista teams up with PETA to ask that Atlanta gay pride party be moved from the Georgia Aquarium

By Marc Malkin Apr 24, 2013 2:23 AMTags
Tim Gunn, Beluga WhaleLifetime; iStock

We're used to seeing Tim Gunn help aspiring fashion designers on Project Runway.

But now reality TV's most dapper fashionista is coming to the aide of beluga whales. Yes, whales!

Gunn has sent a letter via PETA to the organizers of Atlanta's gay pride celebration urging them to move their annual kick-off party from the Georgia Aquarium.

"The loud music and normal party raucousness that are part of the Pride event are deeply disturbing and unnerving to the sound-sensitive beluga whales at the aquarium," Gunn wrote in the latter addressed to Atlanta Pride executive director Buck Cooke.

Noting that the "loud noise can be torturous for whales," Gunn also wrote, "As a leader of Pride, you champion human rights of the individuals in the LGBT community. How is it possible to be simultaneously dismissive of the pain and anguish suffered by another species of mammal?"

The party is scheduled for until Oct. 11.

"With close to six months of lead time, you can surely make it work," Gunn wrote. "I believe that Atlanta's LGBT community would agree that the kick-off celebration would be more in keeping with Pride's spirit and these compassionate changing times if the party were cruelty-free."

Cooke tells us Gunn's letter hasn't swayed Atlanta Pride and the group still plans to hold the party at the aquarium.