Gay-friendly church targeted by homophobic graffiti — again
This is their seventh incident of vandalism
A gay-friendly church in Charlotte, North Carolina was targeted by homophobic graffiti — again.
Pastor Chris Ayers of Wedgewood Church first posted the news on Wednesday (24 January).
Since then, Ayers has posted several updates on the situation, including the church’s history with vandalism.
This is the seventh time someone targeted the church because of their pro-LGBTI stance.
This is the second time their front doors were ruined by graffiti.
The first time it happened was in 2015. The perpetrators spray-painted a similar message across the doors, previously red.
In response, Wedgewood painted the doors with a rainbow.
‘No amount of spray paint will stop us,’ Deacon Kimberlee Walker said. The church continued preaching love and acceptance, as they have since the beginning.
‘News of our actions went viral across the internet,’ Ayers wrote about them painting the doors. ‘We had a community paint party/worship service to stand together in a time of being attacked. Several people drove hours to participate in the painting and the worship service.’
After this most recent vandalization, they set up a GoFundMe. The money raised is for re-painting, a security system, and other miscellaneous repairs. So far, they’ve already raised almost $1,000 more dollars than their goal in just a day.
They’ve already made good progress.
Jasper Blue painted over the recent graffiti with a new rainbow flag.
‘Goodbye graffiti. Not the neatest spray job I’ve done, but folks will be painting over it,’ Blue commented.
The church is holding another community paint event on Sunday. People will help paint a new rainbow flag on the doors, this time including black and brown stripes.
Ayers also noted an anti-graffiti coat will be done this time as well.
Further, Ayers made another post saying the company his husband works at is providing a surveillance system.
An outpouring of love
There has been plenty of support for the church through this time.
Ayers wrote it made him ‘optimistic about the future’.
‘Several people stopped by the church today to express support,’ he wrote. ‘A lot of long conversations with people, all of whom were young.’
Words by Anya Crittenton
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Originally published at www.gaystarnews.com on January 26, 2018.
