‘This is disgusting’: Display at Kansas City church defaced with anti-LGBTQ message

Matti Gellman
·3 min read
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Community members sprung into action Thursday after a rainbow display welcoming all to a Kansas City church was defaced.

Six brightly covered doors which read “God’s doors are open to all” in front of United Church of Christ at 205 W. 65th were graffitied over with an anti-LGBTQ message.

A pride flag was also ripped down from a pole on the lawn of the church.

Stephanie Switzer lives nearby and attends the church. When she heard about what happened, she gathered her five children and a bucket of sponges and they worked to scrub off the graffiti left on the doors.

“It surprised me. It’s shocking to me,” she said. “Our church is about being welcoming to everybody. This is just wrong.”

She told her kids that this was their opportunity to right a wrong.

For Evelyn, Switzer’s 4-year-old daughter, it felt like they were “stopping the bad guys.”

They spent hours Thursday sanding the display in the heat, as Switzer’s brother-in-law painted a fresh coat of paint on each door.

“I hope this never happens again,” said Switzer’s 8-year-old son Dominic.

Church and community members sanded off an anti-LGBTQ message spray painted on doors on the lawn of Kansas City United Church of Christ, 205 W. 65th St., on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The group was preparing to repaint the symbolic doors after the damage was discovered outside the church.
Church and community members sanded off an anti-LGBTQ message spray painted on doors on the lawn of Kansas City United Church of Christ, 205 W. 65th St., on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The group was preparing to repaint the symbolic doors after the damage was discovered outside the church.

Police were called Thursday to the address of the church, but no further information was available, according to Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Police Department.

“This is disgusting and has no place in Kansas City,” Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on social media.

Since 1997, the church has declared itself an open and affirming place for LGBTQ churchgoers, according to Pastor Jessica Palys. Many congregants had been exiled from other places of worship and sought refuge in the church, she said.

When she heard the doors displayed for Pride month were vandalized, she feared for those congregants.

“We’re going to keep celebrating people. Nothing is going to change. But this is disturbing,” she said.

Emily Stott, a secretary at the church, saw the doors defaced and flag missing early this morning.

“Its definitely scary,” she said. “Especially with the other incidents of hate happening in the area. But this kind of stuff makes you want to do more and let people know they’re not alone.”

Catherine Kelly sands the anti-LGBTQ message from doors vandalized on the lawn of Kansas City United Church of Christ in Kansas City on July 7, 2022. Church and community members gathered quickly to remove the hateful message and repaint the symbolic doors.
Catherine Kelly sands the anti-LGBTQ message from doors vandalized on the lawn of Kansas City United Church of Christ in Kansas City on July 7, 2022. Church and community members gathered quickly to remove the hateful message and repaint the symbolic doors.

The graffiti discovered Thursday was the latest in a series of anti-LGBTQ incidents in the Kansas City area.

In April, a banner in support of the LGBTQ community in front of a church in Johnson County was vandalized. Overland Park police were investigating it as a hate crime, but no one has been arrested, Officer John Lacy said Thursday.

In May, the United Church of Christs’ pride flag was painted over with what the church described as “an obvious statement of discrimination and hate.”

Earlier this week, a campaign banner for Justice Horn, who running for a seat on the Jackson County legislature, was defaced with a homophobic slur.

He visited the church Thursday afternoon.

“We have to take these incidents serious now, before it becomes something more egregious in the future,” Horn said.

“We can’t run scared, that’s what they want us to do ... We need to stand up to our oppressors and we need our allies to do the same.”

Horn said he submitted a report to Kansas City police regarding his sign, but felt discouraged when they decided to investigate the incident as a property crime and not a hate crime. Now, he has contacted the FBI, which is investigating it as a hate crime.

Church and community members sanded off an anti-LGBTQ message spray painted on doors vandalized on the lawn of Kansas City United Church of Christ, 205 W. 65th St., on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The group was preparing to repaint the symbolic doors after the damage was discovered outside the church.
Church and community members sanded off an anti-LGBTQ message spray painted on doors vandalized on the lawn of Kansas City United Church of Christ, 205 W. 65th St., on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The group was preparing to repaint the symbolic doors after the damage was discovered outside the church.