Molly Sprayregen

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Republican wants to expand definition of “child pornography” to make it easier to ban LGBTQ+ books

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A freshman lawmaker from Wyoming has already begun efforts to remove LGBTQ+ books for youth from both school and public libraries in the state.

Republican Rep.-elect Jeanette Ward has introduced House Bill 87, which expands the definition of “child pornography” to mean “any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, cartoon, drawing, computer or computer generated image or picture, whether or not made or produced by electronic, mechanical or other means, or any other form of depiction of explicit sexual conduct.”

The bill also repeals a law that gives exemptions for those who “possess or disseminate obscene material” for activities related to schools, universities, colleges, museums, and public libraries.

Based on this definition, many books that provide sexual health information to youth would be banned, along with several books that help LGBTQ+ youth learn about their identities.

“Not requiring tax payers to pay for obscenity is reasonable and just,” Ward told the Casper Star Tribune. “These books will continue to be available in the marketplace, but not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Reasonable people everywhere recognize these books as obscene and reasonable people do not want their money used to subsidize obscenity.”

According to the Tribune, Ward, herself, has passionately advocated for the removal of two LGBTQ+ books from a high school library in her district – speaking at multiple school board meetings against the acclaimed graphic memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and a trans resource guide called Trans Bodies, Trans Selves.

Ward also helped members of the anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty get elected to the Natrona County school board. Moms for Liberty members have been running for school board positions across the country as part of the right-wing effort to shift schools toward a more conservative ideology.

On boards where Moms for Liberty is in control, curricula is likely to exclude LGBTQ+-inclusive and anti-racist education.

In Florida, anti-LGBTQ+ Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, himself, helped Moms for Liberty members get elected to local school boards. The newly seated members repaid DeSantis by ousting school officials who dared defy his orders against school mask mandates during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ward’s bill in Wyoming currently has 13 Republic cosponsors. If it passes, it will go into effect on July 1st.

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Davante Lewis is the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to statewide office in Louisiana

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Progressive Democrat Davante Lewis has become the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to statewide office in Louisiana as well as the first out LGBTQ+ Black person elected to any public office in the state.

Lewis, 30, recently won a runoff election and was elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission, a regulatory agency focused on ensuring reasonably priced public utilities. It also works on state energy policy.

While the position is not something voters often pay close attention to, Nola.com said far more eyes were on this race due to high natural gas prices causing increased utility bills and a weak electrical grid that has proven to be no match for hurricanes.

Lewis’s platform included holding utility monopolies accountable for the way they use their profits, investing in green jobs, pushing utility companies to adopt clean and renewable energy sources, and protecting the rights of those paying for utilities by banning excessive late fees, providing a fixed billing system for senior citizens, ending service disconnections, and more.

He is also focused on ensuring the durability of the electrical grid after it has proved insufficient against increasingly severe weather driven by climate change. Last year, for example, millions in the state had no power for weeks after Hurricane Ida.

Davante won out against three-term incumbent Lambert Boissiere III.

In a speech to supporters after his victory, Lewis declared “a new chapter for Louisiana.”

“Tonight, the people of Louisiana start taking our power back. Tonight, Louisiana has a Public Service Commissioner who’s unafraid to hold Entergy [a utility company] accountable, because I owe this victory to the people of Louisiana and their commitment to a brighter, cleaner, and 100 percent renewable future.”

“Realizing this vision will take hard work from our entire movement,” he added, after thanking supporters. “The monopoly utility companies, oil, gas and petrochemical industries and political establishment who tried to sink our movement will not disappear because of this election. We must continue to root out corruption and unrig the system, to hold me and my fellow commissioners accountable, and to advocate for bold, new solutions.”

“But tonight shows that together, we are up to the challenge and I look forward to spending the next six years fighting every day for you.”

In a statement from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which endorsed Lewis, President and CEO Annise Parker celebrated the victory.

“For far too long, Black people and the LGBTQ community have lacked equitable representation in government —with the scars to show for it. Davante shattered this lavender ceiling because voters were enthusiastic about his life-long service to Louisiana, his commitment to working families and his keen ability to forge and activate diverse coalitions.”

“We are confident these qualities and his exceptional career as a climate champion and public policy expert will make him an effective leader for all Louisianans, especially the LGBTQ community who have faced a sharp uptick in homophobia and transphobia this year. His election is a shining example that when LGBTQ people run, we win.”

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Ron DeSantis appoints anti-LGBTQ+ activist to college board to “reconquer” schools

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has appointed far-right anti-LGBTQ+ activist Christopher Rufo to the board of trustees of the New College of Florida – a school with a reputation for being progressive and queer-friendly.

In addition to virulently targeting the LGBTQ+ community, Rufo has spent years helping to build a movement against the teaching of so-called critical race theory – an academic term conservatives have manipulated to essentially mean teaching children anything about the history of racism in the U.S.

Rufo – who does not live in Florida – admitted in a 2021 speech that right-wing activists “appropriated” the term critical race theory and that he doesn’t “give a shit” about its actual definition.

He has also spoken out against diversity and inclusion initiatives at public universities, saying that taxpayers are “funding private political activism with public dollars.” He called universities “patronage systems for left-wing activists” and called for the establishment of a “conservative center” at these schools.

He has repeatedly spoken out against teaching what he calls “a radical gender curriculum” – which is really just basic instruction on gender and tolerance of their trans peers – to young kids.

He also misleadingly claimed that Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago was promoting “‘trans-friendly’ sex toys for children.” Rufo’s claim was based on a resource document that was provided exclusively to teachers. Claims like Rufo’s against hospitals providing gender-affirming care contributed to medical establishments receiving bombing and death threats.

Rufo helped drive Florida’s attempts to punish the Disney Corporation after the company stated its opposition to the Don’t Say Gay law, tweeting that “We are going to war with Disney and the left-wing activists who are subverting parents and pushing gender ideology onto children.”

Trans activist and Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic instructor Alejandra Caraballo named Rufo’s campaigns against drag queens as partially responsible for the threats, protests, and violence taking place at drag shows around the country.

With Rufo’s appointment to the New College board, along with other conservatives, New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg accused DeSantis  of plotting a “hostile takeover of a liberal college”

“We want to provide an alternative for conservative families in the state of Florida to say there is a public university that reflects your values,” Rufo told Goldberg.

He added, “If we can take this high-risk, high-reward gambit and turn it into a victory, we’re going to see conservative state legislators starting to reconquer public institutions all over the United States.”

Rufo said the board is planning a “top-down restructuring” of the school that will involve designing “a new core curriculum from scratch.”

“We’re happy to work with them to make New College a great place to continue their education,” Rufo said of the progressive students already attending the school, “Or we’d be happy to work with them to help them find something that suits them better.”

He also said, “We anticipate that this is going to be a process that involves conflict.”

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Anti-LGBTQ+ parents now want ‘deprogrammers’ to turn their estranged kids conservative

A new trend seems to be all the rage for anti-LGBTQ+ parents, who have been increasingly touting the need to “deprogram” their progressive children and turn them conservative.

A recent report from the New York Post features a group of mothers who say their children refuse to talk to them after being “indoctrinated” with “gender and race ideology” by progressive high schools and colleges.

The article likens progressive values to being in a cult and details the mothers’ desire to find a “deprogrammer” to jolt their children back to reality.

The mothers were inspired by another story from the New York Post, that of Annabella Rockwell, a pharmaceutical fortune heiress, a rightwing activist, and a Mount Holyoke alumna who claimed that her mother hired a $300/day “deprogrammer” to turn her conservative after college.

“I saw Annabella’s story and my life turned upside down,” said 54-year-old Beth Pensky, whose son and daughter don’t speak to her.

“I realized I wasn’t alone and I saw what happened to her was similar to what I think happened to my kids. I never even considered trying to find a deprogrammer. I didn’t know they existed. But I think it’s too late for me and my kids. They won’t even talk to me.”

A mother named Dorothy, whose last name was not given, also connected to Rockwell.

“Reading about Annabella was the first time I connected the dots to everything that had happened with my daughter,” she said.

“She had what she called ‘an awakening’ and became very angry at me and her father. It was a big personality change. We are conservatives so [our political views] became a huge problem. We were not allowed to visit her on campus. She went on a mission to convert her brother against us. She told him that he should be against us because we’re conservatives and that we all should be against men.”

Pensky and Dorothy also both claimed they did not have any problem with the fact that they each had daughters come out as gay. Rather, they say it was the way their daughters treated them in the aftermath that was the problem.

The article also featured an anonymous mother of five daughters who she claimed were turned against her by the upscale New York City private school Dalton and then further lured into the cult of progressivism in college.

“The emotional stress is unbelievable,” she said. “I consider myself a Democrat and a liberal but it doesn’t matter. I’ve had fights with some of my girls just because I wouldn’t get myself a Rainbow pride Starbucks cup. The cup itself became this huge battleground. Apparently it matters what cup you hold.”

And the deprogramming business is apparently booming.

36-year-old K. Yang was once a trans and gay rights activist who used they/them pronouns but has since “deprogrammed” herself. She said she is extremely busy these days as a full-time deprogrammer

Yang’s website claims to be “exposing the trans agenda.”

“There’s a war for our bodies & minds and it’s all connected,” it says.

Yang touts the ideology of Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs), claiming that advancing trans rights somehow contributes to a lessening of rights for cisgender women.

“A lot of these parents are completely bewildered,” Yang told the Post. “A lot of them noticed a marked difference in their children’s behavior. Then all of a sudden ‘she’ identifies as ‘he.’ A lot of this is like a cult except parents don’t realize their child is being indoctrinated — not from an old-fashioned cult that takes you away somewhere but through schools and their devices. This is happening to kids everywhere, even those with a robust family life.”

Yang claimed there is a global conspiracy to “restructure society” that goes all the way up the United Nations.

“They are undermining the sexually dimorphic nature of reality and breaking down the differences between the sexes to break down our identity. They are constructing identities for us and they want us to adopt them.”

The article even featured the so-called “father of deprogramming,” 92-year-old Ted Patrick who was known in the 1970s and 1980s for helping parents “deprogram” their kids who had fallen victim to cults. Patrick’s controversial practices led to multiple jail sentences and dozens of indictments on grounds like kidnapping and conspiracy.

Patrick claims young people today are in a state of emergency and essentially says they should be kidnapped to fix it.

“It’s worse now than it was then,” Patrick said. “But parents are more scared and weak than they were then. You’ve got to get these kids alone. I’ve snatched people from Yale. I deal with the mind. You have to go into the mind, into that container, and bring the real person out. Once you get the person out you have to get the person thinking again — thinking like a critical thinker.”

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LGBTQ+ people have more federal student debt than non-LGBTQ+ people

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A new William’s Institute study has found that LGBTQ+ adults are more likely to have federal student loan debt than non-LGBTQ+ adults.

The study found that 39% of LGBTQ+ adults have student debt totaling approximately $93 billion. Most of those loans are federal loans, and the study found that 35.4% of LGBTQ+ adults have federal loans, compared to 23.2% of non-LGBTQ+ adults.

The largest burden seems to fall on transgender adults. 51% of trans adults have federal student loans, compared to 35.9% of LBQ cisgender females and 27.9% of GBQ males.

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The study found that 16% owe $50,000 or more, while 84% owe less than $50,000 in federal loans.

LGBTQ+ adults between the ages of 18 and 40 owe an average of $34,000 in federal loans and $47,500 in total student debt. In comparison, the average amount owed for all Americans is $32,731.

The overview of the study states that “information about student debt among LGBTQ adults is missing from student loan forgiveness discussions,” a point that has been made more than once by LGBTQ+ advocates.

The Point Foundation, an LGBTQ+ Scholarship Fund, published a piece in September citing the Williams Institute study and declaring student debt an LGBTQ+ issue.

Out writer Nick Wolny also called student debt an “LGBTQ+ crisis” earlier this year, citing the often intense yearning of LGBTQ+ young people to leave home and the need for them to take on massive amounts of debt to do so.

“I was not allowed to have a girlfriend when I was living at home because of my mom’s beliefs,” said therapist and clinical social worker Lee Ring. “Once I got out and was living in the dorms and had more independence, I was able to more freely be out. I was able to connect with other LGBTQ peers. I came out as nonbinary in my undergrad career as well; that wouldn’t have happened if I had been living at home with my parents, because I wouldn’t have had the opportunity for exploration.”

This need to leave home and get “as far away as possible” led to $120,000 in student loan debt.

A 2018 report also noted that LGBTQ+ young people are more likely to lack financial support from family. In addition, anti-LGBTQ+ employment discrimination makes it more difficult for LGBTQ+ people to earn a living that allows them to easily pay back their loans.

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Indonesian soldiers jailed for having gay sex as anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown continues

Two Indonesian soldiers were kicked out of the army and have been sentenced to seven months in jail for having gay sex.

Gay sex is currently legal for civilians in most of the country, according to the South China Morning Post, however it is banned for members of the military.

Soon, though, it will be banned for everyone, as the country just passed a new law banning sex outside of marriage, and same-sex marriages are not legal in the country.

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The law will not take effect for three years but will apply to both locals and foreigners.

The ruling against the soldiers reportedly stated that “The defendants’ acts of committing deviant sexual behavior with the same sex was very inappropriate because as soldiers, the defendants should be an example for the people in the defendants’ surrounding environment” and declared that their “actions were very much against the law or any religious provisions.”

The sentence is part of a larger crackdown on LGBTQ+ people in the country.

“This has been the increasing pattern among the Indonesian armed forces and police in recent years,” said Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid, “where [service] members were being fired or taken into court just for who they are, who they love, who they like.”

A gay party was also raided in 2020, and after publicly humiliating 141 men arrested in a gay sauna in 2017, the government banned all LGBTQ+ TV content, tried to shut down an international LGBTQ+ sporting event, and the Aceh region arrested 12 transgender women and shaved their heads to “make them men.”

An Indonesian mayor recently called for increased raids against LGBTQ+ people. In Aceh province (the one place where homosexuality is currently banned), gay and trans prisoners face 100 lashes as punishment for being themselves.

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Russian libraries remove LGBTQ+ books from their shelves after Putin signs harsh anti-LGBTQ+ law

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Russian libraries are removing LGBTQ+-themed books from their shelves after the country’s President Vladimir Putin signed a law yesterday expanding the prohibition on LGBTQ+ “propaganda.”

The newly signed law effectively outlaws any public expression of LGBTQ+ life in Russia by banning “any action or the spreading of any information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality in public, online, or in films, books or advertising,” Reuters reported.

Four Moscow libraries have already taken action in the wake of the new law, according to Russian media. The libraries reportedly received a list of authors whose books they needed to make completely unavailable on shelves and online. The books include any with LGBTQ+ content, and based on another new law, any authors considered “foreign agents” or who criticize the war in Ukraine.

Putin first signed a law banning so-called “gay propaganda” in Russia in June 2013. The law ostensibly sought to “protect children” from any “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships,” as stated in the law’s text. The new law extends the restrictions to not just children but Russians of all ages.

Putin signed the law as part of a broader push for Russians to embrace the nation’s “traditional values.” The push has been used as a justification for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s stance against the western multinational defense coalition NATO which seeks to limit Russia’s military expansion in Europe.

The law has mostly been used to silence LGBTQ+ activist organizations, events, websites, and media, as well as to break up families and harass teachers. It has also been roundly condemned by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as civil rights activists around the world.

These critics say the updated law will further endanger the lives of Russia’s LGBTQ+ population, which has already suffered increased harassment, violence, and hostility in recent years.

The new law comes as conservatives in the United States are advancing a similar push for schools to remove LGBTQ+ content from their libraries.

Across the country, parents and politicians are petitioning school boards and proposing laws to severely limit the type of content kids can access at school. In some states, laws have been proposed that would criminalize librarians and other school staff if they don’t remove certain books from the shelves.

Conservatives have claimed these books are inappropriate or even pornographic and that parents deserve more control over what their children can access, even though many people in these towns have argued that books with similar heterosexual scenes don’t face the same scrutiny. In many cases, their fights have been successful.

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Christian conservatives campaign against lesbian polar bears in “Peppa Pig”

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The anti-LGBTQ One Million Moms (OMM) is circulating a petition against the beloved British children’s show Peppa Pig after it aired an episode featuring a young polar bear child with two polar bear moms.

The petition tells families to “Beware! Peppa Pig is now boldly glorifying gay marriage.”

It states that OMM is “concerned with the normalization of a sinful lifestyle choice during a children’s show.”

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“This type of sexuality should never be included in a cartoon designed for children, much less praised. It is especially distressing since this popular children’s program is viewed in 180 countries,” the petition said.

The petition is asking Hasbro, which owns the rights to Peppa Pig, to “stick to entertaining and providing family-friendly programming instead of pushing an agenda.”

The Peppa Pig episode in question aired back in September. The show has been on for 18 years but this was its first time featuring an LGBTQ couple.

In its episode called “Families,”  a character named Penny introduces her two moms.

“I live with my mummy and my other mummy. One mummy is a doctor and one mummy cooks spaghetti,” Penny says.

The episode came about in response to a petition to include a same-sex couple in the show that garnered almost 24,000 signatures.

And the episode caused international panic among conservatives. Far-right politicians in Italy denounced it, as did Russian lawmakers, one of whom called the cartoon pig a “tool of hybrid war.”

Federico Mollicone, culture spokesperson for the conservative Brothers of Italy party, declared that the nation “cannot accept gender indoctrination” and claimed that “once again the politically correct has struck, at the expense of our children.”

Senator Isabella Rauti, a member of the party, called the episode “gender propaganda” and stated that the “Brothers of Italy have long denounced the attempt at indoctrination by supporters of gender theories.”

In Russia, it was member of Parliament Alexander Khinshtein who denounced the show.

“LGBT is nowadays a tool of hybrid war, and in that hybrid war, we must protect our traditional values,” said Khinshtein during a speech. “We must protect our society and our children. Let me very quickly demonstrate what kind of propaganda is already being waged against our society.”

Now, seemingly a bit slow on the uptake, OMM is getting in on the action. The group is a division of the American Family Association, a Southern Poverty Law Center designated hate group.

The group routinely campaigns against LGBTQ representation in commercials, television shows, and the media and states on its website that the goal is to “stop the exploitation of our children, especially by the entertainment media.”

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Nancy Pelosi says “MAGA Republicans” are to blame for anti-trans violence

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In the aftermath of the tragic shooting at an LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs that left five people dead and 18 injured, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said MAGA Republicans are to blame for anti-trans violence.

“Whether spouting dangerous rhetoric from cable news desks or openly bullying schoolchildren from the halls of power, MAGA Republicans are cruelly undermining the safety and well-being of our transgender community,” Pelosi said in a statement released on Sunday to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

She also touted House Democrats’ work enacting “fully-inclusive federal hate crimes protections with the historic Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.”

She concluded, “Heartbroken for so many beautiful souls murdered by hate and guided by relentless activists across the country, let us renew our resolve to build the future that our children deserve.  Together, we will forge a safer, more just America – one where all of its people can freely and proudly exercise their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

In a separate statement focused on the Club Q shooting, Pelosi called the attack “despicable.”

“Our hearts break at the senseless slaughter of… five beautiful souls and the many more injured or forever traumatized, at what was a sanctuary of safety and solidarity.”

Pelosi said the attack contributed to “further shattering the sense of safety of LGBTQ Americans across the country.”

“While Democrats have taken important steps to combat gun violence this Congress, this deadly attack is a challenge to our conscience and a reminder that we must keep fighting to do more.”

“Thank you to the heroic individuals who stopped the gunman and to the brave first responders at the scene.  May it be a comfort to the loved ones of those murdered and the Colorado Springs community that all of America mourns with them during this devastating time.”

Pelosi is far from the only one who has been calling out the dangerous anti-LGBTQ rhetoric the Republican party has been spreading.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also criticized the GOP’s “anti-LGBTQ campaign” from this past year in connection to the shooting.

“After Trump elevated anti-immigrant & anti-Latino rhetoric, we had the deadliest anti-Latino shooting in modern history,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday. “After anti-Asian hate w/COVID, Atlanta. Tree of life. Emanuel AME. Buffalo.”

“And now after an anti-LGBT+ campaign, Colorado Springs. Connect the dots, GOP.”

Ocasio-Cortez also attacked Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who has been one of the most anti-LGBTQ members of Congress this past session and is also a staunch opponent of gun control legislation. Boebert has spent her first term in Congress attacking LGBTQ people and portraying them as a danger to children. She has opposed all gun control legislation and even rose to fame from the gun-themed restaurant she owned where the waiters carried guns.

“The news out of Colorado Springs is absolutely awful,” Boebert wrote over the weekend. “This morning the victims & their families are in my prayers. This lawless violence needs to end and end quickly.”

“Lauren Boebert, you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “You don’t get to ‘thoughts and prayers’ your way out of this. Look inward and change.”

Chasten Buttigieg also sharply condemned Boebert.

In a separate tweet, Buttigieg explained his position more: “Republicans continue to run on and spread anti-LGBTQ ideology and hatred while refusing to lift a finger on gun violence. This is preventable, but only if they start seeing LGBTQ people as equals, and themselves as leaders.”

“You encourage this type of hatred,” he responded. “Get off Twitter and start looking inward.”

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Community unites to create Pride display after couple was targeted by MAGA vandal

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A Chicago couple whose home has been repeatedly vandalized by a Trump supporter is combatting hate with love.

Erica Hungerford and Peter Charnley rallied their community last weekend to create a massive display of LGBTQ Pride on their garage.

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The couple has refused to be intimidated by a man who has repeatedly destroyed their Pride flags and left them threatening MAGA messages at their home in the city’s Jefferson Park neighborhood, where they have only lived since February.

The couple was joined by about a dozen members of their community on Sunday to paint a rainbow mural on their garage door that would cover up the perpetrator’s vandalism and send him a message that they refuse to let his hatred win the day.

Hungerford told the Chicago Tribune that she was “astonished at the number of people who wanted to help.”

Photos of the project depict a massive “Love Wins” message on the garage door, as well as rainbow-painted panels on the side of the structure.

In addition to their friends and neighbors, members of the Chicago Police Department also showed up to help. The department’s Facebook page posted photos of the officers painting and declared, “Hate has no place in Chicago.”

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The couple has endured five separate anti-LGBTQ incidents since May, all of which they believe were perpetrated by the same man.

In the first incident, he cut up their Progress Pride flag that was on display. The couple knew it was an anti-LGBTQ act because the perpetrator left their Michigan flag and only destroyed the Pride one.

After that, they set up a Ring doorbell camera, which recorded the perpetrator returning to destroy the new Pride flag they had put up.

Over the next several months, they found a banana on the porch that had “Republic” on the peel, a “Let’s Go Brandon” sticker on their garage, and messages proclaiming: “Bidens Clintons for jail”; “Obama for prison”; “Impeach Biden”; and “Hack Harris.”

“I heart MAGA” was also painted onto their garage and their Pride flag was spray painted – even though they had hung it on a higher pole to try to keep it out of reach.

The man even waved to them on their security camera before cutting up their Pride flag over the Fourth of July weekend. Photos obtained by Block Club Chicago show the masked man in a zip-up waving.

The harassment got the attention of out Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D), who tweeted in support of the couple and said she was “outraged that this family has endured this hateful and bigoted attack.”

“It’s stressful, it’s anxiety-inducing, it’s infuriating,” Hungerford told the Tribune. “I’m glad that we are able to not back down. At this point, I have extra Pride flags at the house, so the same day that he vandalizes a flag, I go out and put another one out there because I’m not going to let him intimidate me.”

While the couple has only lived in the neighborhood since February, they say their neighbors have told them this situation is not typical of the area at all.

“This vandalism seems very out of character for the neighborhood,” said community resident Megan Dunning, who brought her two children to help paint the garage on Sunday. “This community supports their LGBTQ neighbors. Everyone should be welcomed. We’re not going to tolerate hate.”

Chicago victim advocate Dawn Valenti called the home “the most Prideful house in the city.”

“Everywhere you look, from the tree to the flag to the canopy, to the garage to the side of the garage. Everything says Pride. This hopefully shows this person, especially the mural, that love wins. That’s what it’s about. It’s about love and just loving each other.”

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