Oh, how I wish I could see the reaction convention-goers will have when driving into Cleveland for the RNC and beholding this billboard.
Planting Peace is the organization responsible for the rainbow Equality House that sits near the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. The organization has also sponsored political billboards in the past in various states—and the new billboard that just went up in Cleveland is truly a thing of beauty.
From Planting Peace President Aaron Jackson:
What Donald, Ted and the republican platform either fail to realize, or realize and just don’t seem to care about, is that their words and actions toward our LGBT family — especially LGBT children–have meaning and impact. LGBT children hear these messages telling them they are nothing but second class citizens and are left feeling somehow broken or “less than.”
We challenge the GOP to think about how many times their children could hear messages like these and not be impacted or question their value and worth? These messages sink our young people into a spiral of depression and directly correlate to queer youth attempting or actually committing suicide. The blood of these children is on the hands of the anti-LGBT platform of the republican party. This is not theory. This is not a dramatization. These are facts. For example, when HB2 passed, the Trans Hotline, a suicide prevention hotline for the transgender community, saw their suicide hotline calls increase 50 percent for transgender children.
When children are dying because of negative messages, it’s time to change the message.
Planting Peace calls for the immediate change in the republican party platform with regard to our LGBT family and LGBT rights. Never again shall a negative, hateful message be uttered in the name of “religious freedom.” We are calling for action that brings full fundamental rights to the LGBT community, and a narrative that empowers LGBT people to live and love freely.
Our message to our LGBT family remains consistent: You are loved, valued and beautiful. There is nothing wrong with you. You are not alone; you have a community of support behind you, and we will continue to stand with you.
Wonderful.
Planting Peace does tons of other great work including rainforest conservation, helping homeless children, and tree-planting. Check them out.