Westboro Compound Gets Rainbow, Pro-LGBT Neighbors

And now, another fun round of the WestboroBaptistChurch shuffle.  Many of you probably remember those guys as the tiny church with a few dozen members and a mouth that likes to scream loudly.  They’re the ones that make plain their belief that children and soldiers deserve to die as part of God’s punishment to the world for letting gay people exist and women have abortions.  This time around, the crazy Christian cult of Topeka, Kansas has a new problem to deal with - that of a gay-pride, rainbow colored house popping up across from their place of worship.

As it turns out, someone bought up the home across from where the church (and a bunch of the members’ homes) is located.  After letting it sit for a bit, the house was painted up in rainbow colors.  The “offending” organization is Planting Peace, a group whose usual focus consists of environmental conservation.

The founder of Planting Peace, Aaron Jackson, stated that he wanted to battle against the messages that Westboro puts out by camping right in their front yard.  His hope is that by having such a close presence he can spin some of the rubbish that Westboro is spouting into something more positive for the LGBT community.

Now living in the house for about a month-and-a-half, Jackson has many future plans to make the statement even more effective.  The first stage of the assault will involve adding a giant rainbow flag to match the house, a contrasting piece to the upside-down American flag that graces the lawn of the church.  Afterwards, the Equality House, as it is now known, will be performing the function of an antibullying and LGBT drop-in center.  All things considered, Jackson is hoping to raise about $1 million for these causes.  If you support what Planting Peace and Jackson are doing, they have a CrowdRise page where you can donate, if you feel so inclined.

Personally, I’m interested to see what Westboro will try to do in retaliation.  The most obvious course of action would be to either try to block the use of the residence as a public gathering area (difficult considering the presence of their own church) or to have the house declared an eyesore, assuming they have neighborhood “standards” in the area.  Either way, it’s going to be a pain in the butt for Westboro and anything that makes their lives harder is okay by me.

LGBT Flag photo courtesy of theodoranian via Wikicommons