Photo Credits: ArkLaTexhomepage
Rex Cornwell, who is a pastor at Bossier Church of Christ, placed an anti-gay sign in his yard because he realized that his neighbors are lesbians. According to Patheos, the sign contains an image of an LGBTQ flag that is crossed and under the image there are words “God forbids homosexuality, so should we,” along with specific Bible verses that conservative Christians use to clobber gay people with. By placing this sign on his lawn Cornwell disrupted the couple living next to him and openly presented his bigotry. Lynda Slimer, a woman who lives with her female partner and their two daughters next to Cornwell, posted a picture of that sign on Facebook.
Naturally, Lynda and her partner, who "provoked" Cornwell to put up this sign, were disturbed by it together with many other neighbors. Even local police visited the pastor asking him to take down the sign, but it didn't help. The sign is on his own property and the only thing police could do is to ask him to remove it. There is no law stopping him from doing what he did and he is allowed to keep the sign if he wants to. Naturally, because he is probably a proud Christian, he refused to remove the sign so police work ended right there.
According to Pink News, the couple think the pastor has only just realized they aren’t roommates a year after they moved in. “I’ve baked them cookies, invited them into our home and introduced them to our family. They have waved to us as they come and go and we have talked about the weather. They’ve told us if we ever need anything to just come knock on their door. All thrown out the window because they realized that we are wives and not roommates."
Luckily for the couple, Cornwell is the only one who has a problem with their relationship because all other neighbors were upset and showed their support for the couple. Supporters of Slimer's family showed up to gather across the street from the church in a counter-protest. They carried signs that read, “Spread love not hate,” “God is love” and “Judge not lest ye be judged,” while some also carried rainbow flags or wore rainbow-themed clothing. This is the only positive thing that came out of the pastor's bigotry. It showed that there are far more people who support love over hate and discrimination.
