By Gudrun Schultz
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, September 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A family displaying signs opposing homosexuality on their front lawn have been the target of accelerating harassment by homosexual activists, culminating in a Klu Klux Klan type of blazing fire started in their front yard in the middle of the night, Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link reported yesterday.
Christina Sewall woke up about 2 a.m. in her Colorado Springs home to discover a large bonfire on her front lawn, started by a man caught clearly on a video camera set up in the window of the home. The police have called it a hate crime, the latest in a series of increasing threats and vandalism since the Sewalls first set up the innocuous images as part of an ad campaign by Focus on the Family Action.
The simple ads show a dog silhouette with the caption “woof” and the web address No-Moo-lies.com—the ads are intended to counter an ad campaign to raise support for homosexual domestic partnerships on the November ballot, according to Citizen Link, which show a dog with the caption “moo,” intended to represent the “difference” of homosexuality.
A note left after the first pair of signs was taken overnight read, in part:
“This sign is a symbol of hatred…YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN A TERRORIST BECAUSE YOU DISPLAYED THAT SIGN!
“The purpose of this document is to inform not you, but all who share your anti-gay or any other discriminatory beliefs, your world is about to change…SO TAKE WARNING! Your life, your government and the world as you know it is about to change. YOU ARE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US!”
“How is this being tolerant. They set our lawn on fire?” Sewall said. “We’re not preaching hate, but they are the ones doing the violence.”
The Sewalls have responded to each act of vandalism by replacing the signs in front of their house, but say the risk is distressing.
“We haven’t been resting very well since it started. As adults, we can make the decision and say we think standing up for what we believe in is worth the risk. But we also have to take into consideration that we are taking that risk for kids who can’t decide.”
Earlier in the campaign against them, Christina Sewall told Citizen Link, “The reason we continue [to put out signs]—we have the right to place signs in our yard…And we’re not going to give it up because some people don’t agree with what we’re saying. We aren’t telling them they can’t put things in their yard.”
Now, after the fire, she is still committed to resisting the intimidation, but it is difficult, she said.
“There is some fear and some concern there. But, it also makes me want to stand up all the more, because we are not the ones preaching intolerance.
See coverage by Citizen Link:
https://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0042120.cfm