318 LA rebuild after losing a valve seat

I think that might be preventing the mechanism inside from disengaging as well.
I think it's the other way around; for some unknown reason the Parkrod is jammed, and because it is jammed, it causing the trans to rotate Once the rear tires are off the ground, the trans at it's nomally installed working angle, and the tires both turn by hand; the parkrod would normally not be preloaded and should pop tight out.
If it doesn't, you have two choices; 1) pop the tailshaft off and drive the rod forward and unlocking the pawl, or
2) drop the VB and pull the rod out.

I noticed the front of your trans is quite high. I suppose the driveshaft angle may be jamming it up. I don't think so, but I also don't know so , on account of I've never encountered a problem with that.