Residents in the Mormon Church capital of Salt Lake City were blessed this week with a huge billboard bearing a message from “God.”Â
Lest there be any question, God has made it clear: He loves gay people.
So says a huge billboard that was erected in Salt Lake City this week – the second to grace the state of Utah, after one was posted in Orem.
The billboards are the project of a person or group who wishes to remain anonymous, but goes by the name of “God.”
“The God Loves Gays billboard is intended to send a positive message of love into the world,” the group says in a press release. “Love is more powerful than hate. Perhaps the ‘God Loves Gays’ message will make a few people think about their beliefs. Or perhaps a few Utahn LGBTQ teens struggling with their identity will see the message ‘God Loves Gays’ and feel a little better.”Â
“Who knows? Maybe it swings the Supreme Court’s vote this summer in favor of gay marriage. Maybe later it changes the Mormon Church’s mind on gay marriage too. You never know! God is an idealist and it certainly doesn’t hurt to try.”
Last year, “God” started an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for the billboards and raised over $100,000, but as Buzzfeed reports, had a hard time finding a company in Utah that would approve them.
“God met an excellent billboard broker whose specialty is hunting these billboards down,” the God group told BuzzFeed. “After half a year of trying, we were able to finally find a few boards in Utah.”
Local Salt Lake City TV News station KUTV reports that not everyone is happy about the billboard.
“A number of people who were asked about the billboard declined to be on camera or share their opinion on the topic,” the station reports. But on their Facebook page, KUTV got more responses, where many of the commenters couldn’t understand why the billboard was necessary, despite centuries of religious oppression against LGBT people in the name of God.
“Of course God loves everyone. But who needs a billboard next? Whites? Minorities? Transgenders? If equality is your goal, quit separating yourselves,” wrote one viewer.
“If everyone wants to separate themselves into groups then it’s time for a billboard that says god loves straight white folks as well!!! Just Sayin’…,” wrote another.
“Why not have a billboard that states “God Loves Everyone”.? Don’t get it…..,” complained one reader.
“Gay’s are so use to shoving things down people’s throats, only makes sense they start going after straight people,” wrote another.
But several people were in favor of the billboard, including one who wrote, “I LOVE this billboard!!”
Meanwhile, “God” is still at work, with a website at thegoodlordabove.com (of course) and (of course) “God” is on Facebook, where he has 2.1 million fans, and on Twitter, where he has 136,000 followers, and where he posts tweets like this:
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Image by SirWigglebottoms via Imgur
Hat tip: Huffington Post
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