Pro-LGBT Florida church responds with love to vandals who defaced message board
The Allendale United Methodist Church placed rainbow coloured hearts alongside the graffiti
By Steve Brown
A pro-LGBT church in Florida has been vandalised but they responded with love to the homophobes.
The Allendale United Methodist Church, in Florida, was targeted by homophobic vandals who defaced the letter board over the weekend.
Using black spray paint, the vandals wrote: “Gay pastor” across the Biblical message and the police department are treating the case as a hate crime.
However, the church has taken the upper hand against the vandals and Reverend Andy Oliver and the rest of the congregation decided to leave the graffiti on the board.
But they included rainbow coloured hearts on the sign and wrote in bold letters: “Love always wins”.
The church then posted a statement on their Facebook page addressing the issue and explained why they decided to leave the graffiti.
The statement read: “LGBTQ people are more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other minority group.
“We will leave the spray paint up, surrounded by signs of love, to make visible the often invisible harm that the LGBTQ community receives every day.
“We are also taking this opportunity to tell the [vandal] that should they be arrested, we will fight for the restoration of their rights through the passage of Amendment 4.
“Thanks to members of the community who raised funds, we already have a new sign on order from July when someone threw a brick. And we also have cameras to install.”