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
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The View from a Drawbridge 