H20: 2013

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Rainbow house across street from Westboro gets attention - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |

Rainbow house across street from Westboro gets attention - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina TOPEKA, KS (RNN) - Members of Planting Peace, a multi-pronged charity, gave the Westboro Baptist Church the opportunity to look on the bright side.

They bought and painted a house to resemble the gay pride flag - across the street from Westboro Baptist.

WBC spokesman Steve Drain stated via email they thanked God "for the Sodomite Rainbow House."

"This is not a novel idea – there are hundreds of similarly-painted houses around the world – the only reason why this one is a story is because of where it is!" Drain said.

Also, the WBC declared the house was across from "the only church that loves people enough to tell them the Bible truth about the filthy, soul-damning, nation-destroying sin" of homosexuality.

Purchased six months ago, Planting Peace's Aaron Jackson told Huffington Post the project is called "Equality House," and it is the first in a new campaign the group plans to wage against Westboro.

"I didn't know anything about the church or where they were located, but that story kept popping up. And one night I wondered, ‘Where is this church?'" Jackson told HuffPo. "I got on Google Earth, and I was 'walking down the road,' and I did a 360 view. And I saw a 'For Sale' sign sitting in the front yard of a house.

"Right away it hit me, ‘Oh my gosh, I could buy a house in front of the WBC!' And immediately I thought: ‘And I'm going to paint that thing the color of the pride flag.'"

Planting Peace is a nonprofit founded by Jackson and John Dieubon in 2004 "for the purpose of spreading peace in a hurting world," according to its website. The organization stated it emphasizes the power of one - the ability that each person possesses to make a difference.

According to Huffington Post, Planting Peace bought the house for about $83,000, and Jackson had been living in Topeka for more than a month waiting on the perfect time to transform the house.

WBC is known for its sidewalk demonstrations across the country. They display large, colorful signs and protest a number of events, including funerals of soldiers and, more recently, memorial services for children that died in the Sandy Hook tragedy.