A Texas town is protesting against one of the most anti-LGBTQ hate churches in the nation

Pastor Jonathan Shelley
Photo: Facebook

A rainbow chalk drawing in the parking lot of the Stedfast Baptist Church of Watauga, Texas, just north of Fort Worth, bears the words, “No Hate in Texas.”

Nearby, a drag queen dressed in a white body suit, boots, and a rainbow cape flaps a rainbow-colored fan to draw attention to a group of protestors. A string of rainbow flags flap in the wind as protestors carry signs reading, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” and, “Here against hate. Here against Stedfast.” Another banner facing the road says, “Stedfast Church advocates murder.”

In February, a judge in Hurst, Texas ruled that the church had violated its lease agreement in the town by making threats and creating a dangerous nuisance. The church relocated to Watauga in May 2022, and the town’s queer residents and allies have been protesting ever since to show that their town won’t tolerate the church’s hate.

The church has been certified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. During Pride Month, pastor Dillon Awes said, “Every single homosexual in our country should be charged with a crime, the abomination of homosexuality that they have. They should be convicted in a lawful trial. These people should be put to death. They should be lined up against a wall and shot in the back of the head. That’s what God teaches.”

Someone in Awes’ congregation yelled, “That’s right!” Awes has also said that all homosexuals are child rapists and that “sodomites” are responsible for school shootings. The church’s leader, Jonathan Shelley, expressed happiness at someone plowing their car into a crowd of Florida Pride attendees in 2021.

“I cannot believe you expose kids to that garbage,” town resident Mandi Skinner yells in the church parking lot while holding a sign that says, “Pray your hate away.”

Skinner told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “He’s calling for people like us to be shot. There’s no way…

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