Tag: Planting Peace

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Planting Peace Sends First Pride Flag Into Space

Global nonprofit Planting Peace launched the first pride flag into space to declare the universe “LGBTQ friendly.”

On August 17, Planting Peace sent the first pride flag into space, and in doing so, declared space LGBTQ friendly. The primary purpose of this declaration is to support the ongoing fight for the fundamental human rights of our LGBTQ family, moving us closer to a universal understanding that all people deserve to live freely and love freely without fear and discrimination.

To achieve this, we used a high altitude balloon with a GoPro attached, and launched just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The pride flag was airborne for just over three hours before making its way back to earth. At its peak altitude, the flag soared 21.1 miles above the earth’s surface.

Our hope was to create the largest safe SPACE possible for our LGBTQ community. It also offered us a chance to reinforce, in a peaceful, beautiful way, our ongoing message to our LGBTQ family:

You are loved, valued and beautiful.

 There is nothing wrong with you.

 You are not alone, and we will stand with you.

I will admit I got a bit choked up watching the flag’s journey. Sweet idea.

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Planting Peace Plants Billboard In Kim Davis’ Hometown

Planting Peace, the folks behind the Equality House, the rainbow-colored house which is located directly across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church from across the street in Topeka, Kansas, has erected a billboard to greet Ms. Kim Davis with some biblical truth.

The billboard reads, “Dear Kim Davis, The fact that you can’t sell your daughter for three goats and a cow means we’ve already redefined marriage.”

From Planting Peace’s website:

Following the June 26th Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses in her home state, citing that doing so compromised her religious beliefs. That day, she became the poster child for the anti-gay movement.

As has been painstakingly observed time and time again, the anti-LGBTQ movement is comprised of a substantial number of zealots who unfailingly refer to their rigid interpretation of religious text to narrowly define “traditional” institutions and values. They pick and choose what they wish to convey as immoral and unacceptable, while seemingly sweeping lines of scripture just a few letters away completely under the rug.

In response, Planting Peace has constructed a message for Kim Davis and the anti-LGBTQ movement. The intent of the billboard is to expose this narrow interpretation by Davis and others that they use to defend their discrimination against the LGBTQ community. It is important and relevant to call this out, because these messages and actions are not simply about a political or religious debate. There are LGBTQ youth across the world who are taking their lives at an alarming rate because of these messages from society that make them feel broken or less than. We have to meet hate with love…intolerance with compassion.

Our message to our LGBTQ youth is simple:
You are loved, valued, supported, and beautiful.
There is nothing wrong with you, and we will stand by you.
You are not alone.
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Five year old sells lemonade for peace across the street from Westboro Baptist Church

Five-year-old Jayden Sink, of Kansas City, decided to set up a stand selling pink lemonade at The Equality House on Friday afternoon.

The Equality House is a rainbow-colored building directly across the street from Westboro Baptist Church – yeah, the icky ugly bigots who picket US soldiers funerals. The house, which was painted the colors of the pride flag in March, was bought by Aaron Jackson, one of the founders of Planting Peace, a multi-pronged nonprofit set up in 2004 and aimed at spreading goodwill and equality around the globe.

So she painted a banner for the event reading, “Pink Lemonade for Peace: $1 Suggested Donation.” She put the stand in the grass and waited. But the waiting didn’t take long. Supporters came in by the droves and $1 turned into hundreds of dollars.

Now, Westboro didn’t sit idly by. They heckled the little girl, they shouted “bastards” at soldiers who arrived on their motorcycles to buy lemonade, they called the cops trying to shut her down. It only fed the event.

She not only raised $400 during the day on Friday, but she has also collected over $1000 with an online campaign set up through Crowd Rise. Some people donated as little as $10 and as much as $230.

The money she raised was donated to Planting Peace so she could help Planting Peace promote a more peaceful world.”

“Jayden represents the natural humanity we are born with,” Davis Hammet, Director of Operations at Planting Peace, added. “We come into this world compassionate, caring beings and only become hateful if we are taught to be.”

I absolutely concur. Congratulations Jayden for being who you are and inspiring so many.

Thanks TRR reader Rayme for the tip!
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