4 Homes Making Political Statements With House Paint
Pride vs. Prejudice
House neighboring Westboro Baptist Church gets prideful paint job.
The Westboro Baptist Church, a hateful group lead by rogue preacher Fred Phelps, just got itself a colorful new neighbor with starkly different political beliefs and style. Aaron Jackson, a 31-year-old activist purchased the Topeka, Kansas house six months ago and started painting it the colors of the gay pride flag on Monday. With the help of volunteers he plans to also add a huge rainbow flag to the front yard as well.
The house has been renamed “Equality House” and is a stark contrast to the compound across the street. Videos showing the proximity can be viewed on this Twitter account.
Westboro Baptist Church is best known for anti-gay picketing, protests at the funerals of soldiers, and for promising to picket the funerals of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. In essence, they’re a pack of bullies and our hats go off to these counter protesters’ use colorful paint to confront Westboro’s intolerant and evil message.
The new paint job also inspired a White House petition to change the U.S. Capitol Building’s colors to match the gay pride flag until marriage equality is legal in all 50 states. View it HERE.
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Contractor vs. Historical Society
These colors don’t run… from conflict with local government regulations.
In Cambridge, Maryland a local contractor purchased a home to remodel and eventually got fed up with the local historical society and regulations restricting what he could do. One thing not restricted was the paint color so he went with a patriotic theme that was sure to get noticed. Photos of the home have spread wildly across the internet, but mostly under the falsely claim the paint job was to get back at overbearing rules of a local homeowners association.
Speaking of which…. Congress passed the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, which bans any homeowners associations from restricting or preventing association members from displaying the American flag on their property.
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William Bowden vs. The Town of Cary
Freedom of speech, water runoff, and simultaneously fighting cancer and Cary
What started as one man’s protest over water runoff allegedly caused by a road-widening project turned into a First Amendment battle with local zoning officials. William Bowden was ordered to pay fines of up to $500 for each day the painted message remained on his home, but Bowden took the city to court and with the help of the ACLU of North Carolina he won his case. The judge ordered the city to pay him $1 in damages and his legal fees.
During the fight, Bowden came down with terminal lung cancer, but it didn’t stop him from constructing one more sign of protest against the town of Cary before he passed away.
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Maple Leaf Gets Flipped
Protests with paint happen in Canada also.
Angry over weapons charges and a $1.5-million tax bill, this Montreal man sent a message to authorities by painting his home with numerous upside down maple leafs. Originally, the man planted a number of flag poles in his yard with the flags waving upside down, but a court order brought the flag poles down so he resorted to the North American tradition of protesting with paint.
