Resistance to Atlah Worldwide Church’s homophobic ideas seems to be on the rise. After three years of walking past church signs displaying phrases like ‘Jesus would stone homos,’ Harlem resident and advocate Liz Jackson decided to ask people to write their own signs. Jackson printed out mockups of blank Atlah signboards so the public could fill them.

She started the guerilla sign campaign with the help of a fundraiser for the Ali Forney Center, a shelter for homeless LGBT youth situated right across the street from the controversial church at Harlem Shake. The aim of the campaign is to install positive, all-inclusive signs on windows and storefronts around the neighbourhood. Jackson has been taking photographs of the signs and uploading them on Twitter online alongside the hashtag #HarlemLove.

To ensure it is a community effort, Jackson invited others who have been opposing the controversial signs for years. Among them is Michael Henry Adams who has been trying to pursue the Landmarks Preservation Commission to bring down the signs.

Despite the upsurge against Atlah, Pastor James David Manning from the church does not want to change the way he preaches, irrespective of how people react.

“The word [that] God teaches is about love, but it is not about loving evil,” he said while noting that the contents of the church’s signs are protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment.

Adams has tried to convince elected officials from Harlem to bring down the signs but they seem to be reluctant to step in according to him. While State Senator Bill Perkins too disagreed with the church’s stance, he told Adams that both Atlah and Manning are in fact protected under the First Amendment.

“It's a liberty that can be abused, it can be inhumane,” he said. Likewise, council member Inez Dickens agreed.

“It's kind of hard to put a stop to it because technically speaking he has a right to say whatever he wants,” a spokeswoman for the councilwoman said.

The protection guaranteed by the First Amendment leaves little for Perkins to do against Atlah and Manning and so he has been encouraging people to speak against them and their homophobic messages.

“Public pressure can make a difference. We encourage people to speak against it,” he said.

Jackson only hopes that her sign campaign will eventually replace all the hate in Harlem with love and acceptance.

Photo Credits: The Girl with the Purple Cane