Kansas City, MO – Most everyone who believes in Christmas grew up singing the carol, “Deck The Halls.”   It is of Welsh origin, dating back to the sixteenth century.  The Welsh lyrics were penned by John Jones Talhaiarn with English words by Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant.

Now, the Kansas-based Hallmark, makers of the famous Hallmark greeting cards, has changed the lyrics of the Christmas carol on its new design of a Christmas-themed sweater ornament it is marketing. Instead of the words, “Don we now our gay apparel,” Hallmark changed it to “Don we now our fun apparel.”  This prompted the estates of Talhaiarn and Oliphant to sue Hallmark for copyright infringement.

But the troubles of the card company doesn’t end there.  Today, the LGBT organization, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), accused Hallmark of being biased and homophobic. “It’s clearly an effort on the part of the company to banish “gay” not only from the Christmas carol, but from the face of this earth,” an HRC spokesperson said.

Hallmark defended the change saying, “When the lyrics to ‘Deck the Halls’ were translated from Gaelic and published in English back in the 1800s, the word ‘gay’ meant festive or merry. Today it has multiple meanings, which we thought could leave our intent open to misinterpretation.”

Few people were buying Hallmark’s argument, but it remains to be seen as to how many people will actually buy the ornament.

Meanwhile,  the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus just announced that it will continue to use the traditional lyrics when it sings “Deck the Halls” during the sing-along portion of its annual “Home for the Holidays” Christmas concert at the historical Castro Theater. No kidding.