Last week, the ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church placed an offensive sign outside its church, literally demonizing the LGBT population. The sign looked like this:
The sign caused media ripples across the country, and motivated the LGBT Faith Leaders of African Descent into action. Spearheaded by Dr. Wilhelmina Perry, The organization, which has several members and partners in Harlem, placed an ad in the Amsterdam News, a New York City-based newspaper that focuses on African and African-American news. GLAAD helped the organization reach out to partners, and was listed as one of the supporting organizations in the ad.
The ad ran on Thursday, and will run again in the coming days. The ad clearly condemns the sign as homophobic and reminds readers that LGBT people have been a part of the Harlem community and African-American culture for years. It calls on all faith communities to reach out to and welcome people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.