Some Guys Are Normal

Defaced Billboards

My last post was about some controversial billboards in Indianapolis proclaiming that Jesus and early Christians were not anti-gay and may have even been gay affirming. The billboards said things like "Jesus affirmed a gay couple," so they were sure to get a rise out of some people.

Unfortunately, though, that "rise" turned criminal as 2 of the billboards were vandalized shortly after they went up One had the words "Lie Lie Lie" sprawled across it while the other had the word "gay" taken out of the phrase, "the early church welcomed a gay man." Several people placing yard signs also reported being followed by a group that took up the yards signs as soon as they went into the ground.

It's pretty sad that this would happen, but I'm not going to make the jump to say that all conservative Christians or anti-gay Christians are to blame for this. It's unfortunate that some people in almost any group would stoop to a level like this, but even sadder when it appears that it has been done by someone professing to be a Christian.

I wonder if Randy Thomas (see update below), Exodus, or Focus on the Family will write about this and maybe even condemn the vandalism, since they were so quick to condemn it when it happened to a Love Won Out billboard. You can also add the Sean Hannity Discussion Board, LaShawn Barber, Free Republic, and a smattering of other conservative blogs. Randy's only words on his blog post about the incident were, "so much for the 'open minded' crowd." Too bad he couldn't refrain from blaming a group rather than acknowledging that this was most likely the work of some lone vandals rather than a calculated event by all "open minded" folks out there.

Randy even brought up the issue again a year later on his blog. Given that kind of attention, I'd think the same sort of vandalism would at least catch his attention. So, most likely, none of these guys will react to the vandalism, but at least now you know it happens both ways. I wonder how Randy would react if I said something like, "so much for the "we really do love gays crowd." Of course, that'd be unfair, but you get my point.

**Update** Randy has commented on the defaced pro-gay billboards. He took it as an opportunity to rail against the billboards, but he also spoke out against the vandalism, and I appreciate that. Hopefully some of the others will follow suit.

posted by Brady @ 6:59 AM