"Of course that breaks my heart, to see kids growing up into that. He doesn't think church members would be open to that, but also says he doesn't want children of the church seeing that aggression. Like, we're going to hell."īut Jackson says the two organizations have never confronted each other about the issues they stand for in the streets. "Whether you like it or not, they're geniuses of publicity," said Jackson of the church. His church neighbours were the first to reach out, offering their security footage to help. About a year ago, someone put seven bullets through Jackson's window.
They may not be eating dinner together, but Jackson says they do look out for each other. The two organizations may go after each other on social media, but from a neighbourly standpoint, Jackson says they're actually pretty good friends. And that couldn't be any further from the truth". That we have missiles pointed at each other, ready to blow each other up. "People often think it looks like the North Korea - South Korea border. Kansas does not have the best image when it comes to social issues," he said. we created an escape route in the back of our house. "When we painted the house, I didn't know how the community was going to react. Some people see it as something more."Īt first, Jackson was worried about how his direct neighbours would see the house.
Some people just see it as funny, like a middle finger to the WBC. "I let people see it how they want to see it. Thousands of people showed up to the house on the day it opened. Being a good neighbourĪccording to Planting Peace, on any given day, the Equality House receives up to 150 visitors. I always looked at it like, let's just let the gays get married and let's move onto real issues like climate change or something of that nature."Īs Jackson learned more, he discovered the prevalence of suicide among LGBT youth and decided to prioritize advocacy as part of his nonprofit's action. "I didn't know too much about the community as a whole. "I've always considered myself an ally," he said. Jackson spent months researching LGBT rights, turning his whim into a mission. We were pretty nervous, like, 'That's it, I can't believe we're here!'" "At the time it looked like a huge kingdom over there. He left Florida for Kansas to move into what's now known as Equality House, where 22 area houses were occupied by church members.
He was living in Florida at the time, running a nonprofit called Planting Peace, which does humanitarian and environmental work around the world. soldiers, often holding signs that read "God hates fags." The Anti-Defamation League calls the church "a homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group." The WBC is known to picket funerals of U.S. Jackson's idea was in response to controversy the Topeka, Kansas church has generated since its founding in 1950. Aaron Jackson (Courtesy of Aaron Jackson)