Tolerance in Oregon
From
Corvallis Oregon comes this story of a mis-placed flag and some friendly citizens:
bq.
Rainbow peace flag brings no peace to family
The rainbow has been adopted as a symbol of the gay and lesbian communities, but sometimes a rainbow is just a rainbow.
bq. In a case of mistaken identity, a family reportedly was subjected to middle-of-the-night gay-bashing because of a rainbow-colored flag hanging outside their house.
bq. Lisa Wells, 46, said the flag — with the word "pace" written on it, Italian for "peace" — was a reminder of her family's recent travels in Europe. Such flags hang all over Europe, Wells added.
bq. The flag apparently didn't bring Wells' family peace on this side of the pond, though.
bq. Wells said she woke at about 1:30 a.m. Jan. 30 to find her dog growling,
and then yelled at people to get out of her yard, in the 3200 block of Grant Avenue. Four men fled from her property, she said, but one turned and spewed anti-gay rhetoric.
bq. "He threatened me multiple times. He told me I should die. He told me I should read the Bible,"...
That last line is a bit ironic because:
bq. Wells appeared particularly frustrated by one of the suspect's so-called Christian values, since she's a Unitarian Universalist lay minister on campus. As a pluralist, she seeks for truth and God through all religions, including Christianity.
bq. "Jesus preached love, he preached charity, he preached compassion. He said love your enemies. … Intimidation and hate are the antithesis of that," Wells said.
Nice people...
Posted by DaveH at February 15, 2005 5:05 PM