Westboro Baptist Church’s Neighbors Honors Transgender Day of Remembrance
The LGBT rights activists who bought the house across from the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church earlier this year initially painted the home the colors of the rainbow flag, in order to counter the church's message of hate. Today, to commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance, the house's colors have been repainted to match the colors of the transgender flag.
According to the Huffington Post, the house, dubbed "The Equality House," was painted by leaders the Planting Peace organization.
"Transgender suicide, as well as murders of those that are transgender, are alarmingly high," president and founder of Planting Peace Aaron Jackson told HuffPo. "I wanted the Equality House to play a role in bringing public awareness to this issue and to let those in the trans community know that we care. It is my belief that if you are an ally for the trans community, it is imperative that you be open and vocal about it. Acceptance and inclusion comes from education."
Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual event that aims to memorialize transgender people who have been killed by anti-LGBT violence.
"It is our goal to continue to show the world that we are all equal," Jackson added. "But most importantly, we want those that are transgender to know that they have our love and support."
In March Jackson made headlines when he painted the house, located in Topeka, Kan., the colors of the rainbow flag and erected a 30-foot Pride flag. Jackson said he wanted to challenge the WBC and their "God hates fags" message.
In June, a lesbian couple held a wedding ceremony at "The Equality House" just 50-feet away from the WBC headquarters. Then in September, Planting Peace officials announced that the nonprofit group planned on making the WBC headquarters the centerpiece of a drag show called "Drag Down Bigotry."
An announcement about the event on Planning Peace's Facebook page read, "We are inviting you, your family, and your friends to all come out and parade around the Westboro Baptist Church with us whether in costume or not but either way raising money for the Equality House and looking fabulous during the whole event!! If you or a team would like to sign up or receive more information please send us a Facebook message!!"
If you want to learn more about the Transgender Day of Remembrance, check out the event's website.
Also, check out a video about "The Equality House" and Transgender Day of Remembrance below: