"God Loves Gays" Billboards Going Up All Over

Some of the most common excuses used to justify homophobia involve religion, but there are plenty of people who take an entirely different approach. And to spread the message that being LGBT is not "sinful" or "immoral" as far as possible, the God Loves Gays billboards are fundraising to put up billboards across the country. And since the campaign is officially listed as being organized by "Jehovah God," that makes these billboards technically signs from God.

The first "God Loves Gays" billboard originally went up in Topeka, Kansas, home to the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, which believes (among other things) that American acceptance of homosexuality is going to send the country as a whole to hell, and which is fond of slogans such as "God Hates F*gs." They do not use the asterisk. The original crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo raised over $100,000 and allowed this anonymous group (who go simply by "God") to not only put up one billboard but also take out bus ads in Topeka, donate to the Trevor Project and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and put up billboards in Utah. And if their latest crowdfunding effort pays off, God will be putting billboards up all across the country.

According to the YouCaring page, the campaign hopes especially to reach young LGBT people. "There are so many young LGBTQ kids who face daily bullying just for who they are," the organizers write. "Sadly all too often LGBTQ teens take their own lives due to the extreme lack of acceptance they face from their family, religious institution, or bigoted bullies. It is extremely important that this message of love is spread throughout the world."

God's Facebook page (words I never thought I would write) is full of people asking for the billboards to come to their hometown or state — and in some cases to their country. The fundraising page lists dozens of proposed cities including our nations capital, though there's no word about which locations will get priority. But it seems that God is going to be very busy for the foreseeable future.

The campaign has a a goal of $10,000, though one would assume that in order to put up billboards in all these cities, they'd need a lot more. But that probably won't be much of a problem — the campaign has only been up for about two days and has already raised over $8,000. Meaning soon there will be signs from God everywhere.

You can donate to the campaign (or check out their full list of proposed cities to see if yours is one of them) here.

Image: Giphy