Out house: kansas property joins gay pride protest
Aaron Johnson, who founded the non-profit charity Planting
Peace, snapped up the property when he saw it was on the market without even
knowing how many rooms were in the building.
A lick of paint can make all the difference to a property. Whether it’s a Spanish village painting everything Smurf blue, or a home becoming an advertising billboard, a splash of colour can win new fans or annoy the neighbours. But never has that been truer than in Kansas, where a man painted his house with the rainbow of the Gay Pride Flag – right opposite the Westboro Baptist Church.
Aaron Johnson, who founded the non-profit charity Planting Peace, snapped up the property when he saw it was on the market. The 31 year old college dropout, who has opened orphanages in India and Haiti, was inspired by news reports of a 10 year old boy who photobombed one of the church’s protests last year with a sign saying “God Hates No One”.
While researching the vocally anti-homosexual religious movement, led by “publicity-hunting hate-preacher Fred Phelps”, Gawker explains that Johnson spotted on Google Maps that the property directly opposite the church was for sale for around $80,000.
“If you have a hate group in front of your home, that should bring the price of your home down just a little bit," Jackson said. "Unfortunately the gentleman that was selling the house, he didn't seem to agree with me...”
Nonetheless, he bought it six months ago without even knowing how many rooms were in the building. (There two.)
Originally, explains TIME Magazine, the plan was to the turn the property into a LGBTQ museum, but zoning laws prohibited the idea. Instead, they settled on the simple act of painting the house the colours of the rainbow.
Jackson’s mother, an artist, designed the pattern, while Jackson hired a professional paint crew so the house would “be taken seriously”.
“Before we launched, we tried to keep quiet,” the charity’s director of operations Davis Hammett told Yahoo! News. “Shortly after I moved in, someone from Westboro almost backed over me in her car. It was an accident, and she apologized. But it was bizarre—this hate-filled person smiling and waving at me.”
Equality House, as it has been called, will be used as an activist training Centre. The charity has even found themselves a bed and a desk to go on the inside.
So far, the response from the church has remained friendly.
One spokesperson took photos of the house, Hammet continued: “She mentioned she really like the colours. Then she laughed and went back in the church. It seemed like she had a sense of humor about the whole thing.”
He added: “I’m sure in her eyes she just thinks we’re all going to hell.”
Photo credit: Planting Peace Facebook Page