On a recent visit to Kansas, Dear Husband and I decided to pay a visit to Equality House and Mott House, formerly known as Transgender House. Located about 3 miles from the state capitol in Topeka, these two houses are painted to show support for the LBGTQ+ and transgender communities. They are in a quiet little suburban neighborhood, and they seem to have been embraced by the community, given the beautiful messages of love and validation painted on one of its walls.
Those messages included “love always”, “equality”, “You Matter”, “acceptance”, “Happiness”, “we will not be silenced, we will not be erased”, and “we are holding you in the light”.
As we walked the property and peeked in the windows, we got a feeling of peace and inclusion. Even though no one was there at the time, we still, somehow, felt embraced. As I pulled a few weeds from their urban garden, I couldn’t help but think that these homes are a shining light in these troubled times.
These houses belong to an amazing humanitarian organization called Planting Peace. They have orphanages in Haiti and India, have purchased swaths of the Amazon Rainforest, support Ukranian refugees, and hold anti-bullying campaigns. That only scratches the surface.
The location of these two houses is no accident. (Check out this short YouTube video for more on that.) They are situated right across the street from compound of the Westboro Baptist Church, which the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as “arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America.”
When I turned around to face WBC, I most definitely did not feel peace or inclusion. First of all, the place is surrounded by high fencing, with a sign that says, “NOTICE: THIS PROPERTY IS MONITORED BY VIDEO SECURITY”. And cameras were indeed visible.
Stretched across the gable of the main building is a huge banner that says GOD HATES FAGS. Another banner, over their front entrance, says, “SODOM GAVE ITSELF TO FORNICATION & HOMOSEXUALITY & IS AN EXAMPLE, SUFFERING THE VENGEANCE OF ETERNAL FIRE.”
This group is basically a cult of personality initiated by one man who physically abused his wife and children to the extent that they were too terrified to do anything but follow his teaching. Over time, spouses and children were sucked in, as well as a second misguided family. Many of them live on the compound. Their leader died in 2014, but unfortunately the cult did not die with him. It has softened its tone a bit. Sometimes messages of love appear incongruously amongst the hate, but predominantly, the hate is still a priority.
Their main purpose in life seems to be to show up at various events, disrupting the peace and carrying signs that say things like, “God Hates Fags”, “God Hates Jews”, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers”, “America is Doomed”, and “Thank God for AIDS”.
I have no sympathy for the adults, who should know better. But my heart breaks for the children, who have been indoctrinated into this warped worldview. They appear at these demonstrations looking bored and mortified. 4 of the leader’s children have grown up and left this cult, but 9 remain, and some now have children of their own. What a miserable existence.
But I have given their hate entirely too much time. I choose to turn my back on it and focus, instead, on the colorful and all-encompassing love in evidence right across the street. And that’s as it should be.
#EqualityHouse #MottHouse #TransgenderHouse
Cultivate an attitude of gratitude! Read my book! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
The View from a Drawbridge 
Way to go Barb! Love the love!
Thanks, Helen! I’m so glad I visited.
When I read “Mott House” I audibly gasped because the name gave me a sudden mind jolt to something I hadn’t thought about in a REALLY long time.
YEARS ago, I had a “friend of a friend of a friend” kind of acquaintance in Kansas City known as “Mott-ly”. He was an artist and I stayed at his house for a few days with some other friends during a trip to KC and Nebraska. Mott-ly was an artist and wild child and, having lost touch with that group of friends and not knowing him very well to begin with, for a brief moment I thought perhaps the Mott House was named after him, perhaps he’d become involved in gender issues?
Well, some interneting quickly confirmed that thought to be incorrect. In fact, the Mott-ly I knew had died in 2007. https://www.kcur.org/show/central-standard/2012-05-30/remember-mott-ly
Other sources on the internet also taught me that the Mott House was named after “Kansas’ greatest transgender activist, the late Stephanie Mott”. Your beautiful story of the grounds also impelled me to make a donation. I hope Mott House and Equality House remain a glorious beacon for love.
Yes, it was named for Stephanie Mott. Sorry for the loss of any artist, particularly that distant friend of yours.
This “Leave a comment” form is the jankiest on any website! There’s a login for the comment box on the blog post page, then you’re taken to a dedicated “Leave a comment” page where you have to log in again. From there I was taken on an endless loop between the 2 with no indication on either page if the comment had successfully gone through. And on neither of the forms is your password sticky despite a couple different “save my password” tick boxes. My pardons if you get multiple submissions of the same comment from me, and maybe multiple copies of this one, too. 😀 😀
I don’t suppose you have any power over the comment form and can sort out how to make it less of a chore? I for one would love to comment more often, your writing usually spawns thoughts I’d be tickled to share.
Love your blog xoxo
Hi Sara!
For some reason two of your comments landed in the spam folder! Sorry about that. Sadly, I don’t know what to tell you about the comment form. However, if you use Facebook, I invite you to join my View from a Drawbridge group. I post links to every one of my posts, and you can leave your comments there. Of course, not all blog readers will see them, but some will, and I definitely will. Thanks for your feedback! And I need to remember to keep a closer eye on my spam folder in the future.
Witnessing signs of hate can be uncomfortable and leave one feeling helpless. Having hate directed at you personally is traumatizing and dangerous to turn your back on while the abuse is still occurring. Mary Trump has written some powerful truths about the sociopolitical abuse that continues to traumatized us, as a nation. It also applies to any domestic traumas we carry as individuals. While it may be difficult to face these painful memories, it should give us hope to know we’re not forever doomed to be at the mercy of our abusers. We just need to take regular mental health breaks in between sessions, immersed in the traumatic memories, as we fight to heal. The alternative will be far worse than the abuses we’ve survived. https://marytrump.substack.com/p/the-perpetual-twilight-of-our-times
I use political satire and humor, for my mental health breaks, while I continue to process past and current gaslighting and attacks on our rights. Still, it feels like jumping from a merry go round to a roller-coaster. Thank the gods for people like The Satanic Temple and Randy… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMRxhfYSdhc …he’s back!
Mary and Randy rock!!! I miss the time before 2016 when I knew politicians were corrupt, yes, but they didn’t seem dangerous to my very life. Now I have a perpetual ball of acid in my stomach, and I have to hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. I miss the innocence and hope I used to have.
Not all hope is lost. Finally, we can breathe and join the… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HasaQvHCv4w
Tears of relief and joy accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to laugh maniacally. Let’s celebrate this legal victory and then take a much needed mental health break before he and his enablers throw their flaming wrenches in the works. Hope the sentencing is just and permanent, with no suprises.
Planting peace’s anti-bullying campaign must be thankful to see this particular bully being held accountable. Hopefully it will encourage some, that emulate his hateful actions, to rethink their own behaviors. If a Michael Cohen can change, then there is hope for other Trump followers to abandon their hateful beliefs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEK_ZKxHWAw
Oh, wait ’til you read Monday’s blog post! It’s going to be an interesting year. And sorry, but Michael Cohen is still an a$$. But I’m glad he testified.