UPDATED: Mars Hill Church Vandalized, “Gay Rights Group” Claims Responsibility, Community Members Respond
By Nick Mattos, PQ Monthly
A controversial SE Portland place of worship was vandalized early this morning — and a “gay rights group” claims that they perpetrated the destruction.
Mars Hill Church Portland posted the following information to their Facebook page today at 12:05 PM:
At 3:30 am this morning, April 24, one of our pastors received a call from the Portland Police Department that vandalism had occurred at the Mars Hill Church Portland location. Upon arriving at the church, we discovered nine separate windows had been smashed in with rocks, including two beautiful 100-year-old stained glass windows. We estimate the damage to be several thousand dollars.
Neighbors of the church reported seeing several young adults in black masks throwing large rocks into the windows. Police stated that a bank in the area was also vandalized in the same way and that they believe the vandalism was planned ahead of time, most likely by an activist group.
However, we have been notified by KPTV FOX 12 that an email was sent to them from a gay rights group claiming responsibility for the vandalism. This certainly saddens us greatly as our pastors in Portland have made many efforts to build relationships with the homosexual community in Portland. Even though they chose to destroy our property and scare away people trying to worship Jesus, we wish them no harm. We know that many leaders in the gay community that we speak with regularly would be appalled at this kind of violent and destructive behavior.
We love Jesus, and we love people. Broken glass and angry vandals aren’t going to stop us from preaching about Jesus, so please come join us this Sunday for either the 9 am or 11:15 am services.
PQ invited community members to respond to the vandalism with their thoughts and reactions:
“I’m a firm believer in the freedom of every individual to practice whatever form of spirituality they deem appropriate. For me, it’s always been a personal thing. While I do have beef with the actions that organized religions have taken historically, in general (oppression, persecution, war, torture, etc.), and am not the biggest fan, I never see violence as a response to just about anything. We’re not going to increase peace and understanding with any kind of destruction or vandalism, especially smashing 100-year old pieces of art… Why this church? What was the motivation? It just seems misguided.” — Rob Smith, NE Portland
“This is very sad news, indeed, for everyone. For those of us in the neighborhood who have loved those 100 year old windows, for those who worship in that church and for those who felt the only way they could be heard was to commit an act of violence. My hope is that this could be used as a opportunity for dialogue and a chance to create understanding.” — The Reverend Gwen Barnard, the Church of Scientology of Portland
“I think vandalism of any sort is not a proper form of protest, and just creates larger gaps in our community. There is nothing constructive about what happen at Mars Hill, it appears to have been a hate crime. In my opinion hate is a two way street… attacking that church is similar to attacking the Q Center or Pivot – except people dont seem to express as much outrage when a church is vandalized. Whoever did this seems more focused on burning bridges that uplifting our community. In short, it saddens me immensely, especially if a “gay rights group” is claiming responsibility… We formed Q Patrol to protect the LGBTQ community, but what kind of example is set when a gay group claims responsibility for attacking a church? Who is going to protect them? We should all be working together to better Portland, not to divide it.” — Samuel Thomas, SW Portland
“We support the action and stand in total solidarity! Mars Hill has not been trying to build relations with our community. Comparing homosexuality to cancer is not building relations!” — Members of Blow Pony and Homocult, who spoke with PQ Monthly under the condition that their names not be disclosed
“I absolutely think any form of violence or destruction is counterproductive to the idea of equal rights. I grew up with Christian indoctrination from my friends and family, and struggled to reconcile that with my being gay all throughout my adolescence and early adulthood. Through all that, though, I’ve seen — to use a tired cliche — time and again that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. The people I know and love who’ve changed their minds about homosexuality and religion did so from being part of a dialogue about it, and from getting to know gay people who didn’t condemn them for their religion. Yes, activism has to be bold, and visible, and often uncomfortable in order to get people’s attention. And in no way do I think our community should be passive in the face of persecution — we have to stand up for ourselves and make people listen to us. But when that’s taken to a place of hate — be it violence or vandalism or whatever — that’s when people stop listening.” — Andrew Edwards, NE Portland
“Q Center does not condone violence of any kind. I have personally been working with Mars Hill Church since they came to town to establish a civil dialogue between our two groups alongside LGBTQ faith leaders and community members from the LGBTQ community as well as leaders and members from the Mars Hill/Evangelical community. I actually know these people. We have been meeting monthly to discuss our differences and work on finding common ground for the greater part of a year now. These sorts of vigilante attacks only undermine the inter-community work we are doing and, frankly, turn queers from the oppressed into the oppressor. I am embarrassed by whoever did this, and sincerely hope the queer community can continue to stay focused on changing hearts and minds rather than breaking windows. We have every right to be angry, given the history of hurt from the church, but violence is not the answer. If we want to be treated like human beings, we must not behave like animals. We are better than this. I just got off the phone with Pastor Tim Smith from Mars Hill, and our work together will continue as planned. If this vandalism was an effort to thwart these bridge building efforts, it failed. If it was an effort to raise awareness around LGBTQ equality, it failed. If it was an effort to make an eye-rolling media spectacle focused on the queer community, it succeeded…but I challenge those behind this action to really think about what exactly they did for our cause last night. Did you make things better? Are we safer today as a result? The answer to both questions is no.” — Logan Lynn, Public Relations/Innovations Manager, Q Center
“Mars Hill seems to be drawing a great deal of attention as of late. A quick search revealed that this isn’t the first time this franchise has been attacked. And by Gay and Women’s activists for that matter. It seems that there are some really angry people out there, and anonymously attacking an empty building does nothing for anyone in the long run. I’m sad that people can’t put a real face to their frustrations and make a non violent statement. I understand their frustrations, and I share in their anger, but I choose to do something aside from throw stones… While I feel Christ is one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented people in history, ‘let he without sin cast the first stone’ still rings true. I could debate about what Sin is but that’s not the point. There are far more effective ways to get your message across.” — Piwacket Extraordinaire, SE Portland
“I’m not a practicing Christian, but I do believe in respecting sacred places. I’m appalled that young adults can be more like children. It’s upsetting for sure, and angers me quite a bit. I believe in shedding light and peace to people to prove a cause, so when I hear about others proving a cause with violence and anger and hate i look at them as no different than our U.S. government — which is, again, a bunch of kids.” — Billy Walls, SE Portland
We invite you to discuss these reactions — and share your own thoughts about this news — in this page’s comments section. Keep checking PQ Monthly for further statements and updates about the Mars Hill Church vandalism as information becomes available.
UPDATE, 4/24/12 2:39 PM:
PQ staff writer Erin Rook noted on the PQ Monthly Facebook page at 2:33 PM that “it appears that ‘gay rights group’ was the church’s word choice. According to FOX, the email was signed, ‘Angry Queers.’”
Pastor Tim Smith of Mars Hill Church Portland posted this personal response to the vandalism to the Mars Hill Church Portland Facebook Page at 2:36 PM:
Last night our church building was vandalized. A number of windows were broken including some very old stained glass. It’s sad that some feel they must resort to vandalism to be heard but it doesn’t change our message or our mission. It’s still, always, all about Jesus for us. Our message is simple: Jesus saves sinners just like us. We are all in need of a savior and Jesus sacrificed himself for us before we even knew we needed help. Our mission is also simple: we don’t impose Jesus on anyone but we want to propose him to anyone who will listen. We love Portland, we believe Jesus is great and we want everyone to know him.
The good news is our church is off to a great start. We are growing and lives are being changed. We had a huge Easter, many were baptized and many are becoming Christians. A few piles of broken glass doesn’t change anything for us. Be encouraged, stay on the message, keep on the mission and I’ll see you this Sunday.
UPDATE, 4/24/12 3:06 PM
In a story updated at 3:01 PM today, Fox 12 Oregon gives more information about the letter they received, which has so far not been released in full:
FOX 12 received an email from someone using the name “Angry Queers” who claimed responsibility for the vandalism and blasted the church’s agenda. Mars Hill Church representatives said they hold “traditional Bible-based views on homosexuality.”
The email also targeted Portland’s Q Center – a community center for Portland’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people – because Q Center representatives have been meeting with church officials.
The Q Center wasn’t aware of the vandalism until receiving a call from FOX 12 on Tuesday morning. Representative Logan Lynn said the Q Center doesn’t condone the vandalism and doesn’t condone any illegal activity of any kind to further a cause.
PQ staff writer Erin Rook has contacted both Fox 12 and the Portland Police Bureau’s public information officers in an attempt to obtain a copy of the email FOX claims to have received. Updates to follow as information is received.
UPDATE, 4/24/12 7:04 PM
PQ staff writer Erin Rook has received and posted the full text of the email received by FOX 12 from “Angry Queers,” the so-called “Gay Rights Group” that claims responsibility for the vandalism of Mars Hill Church. The email explains that the action was done “in memory of trans women who have been murdered by this cissexist, femmephobic, racist, transmisogynistic society.” In the email, “Angry Queers” lash out at both Mars Hill Church for being “anti-gay anti-woman” and the Q Center for “prioritiz[ing] social peace and the bourgeois aspirations of rich white cis gay people over the more pressing survival needs of more marginalized queers.”
PQ Monthly has reached out to both the Q Center and Mars Hill Portland for response to the email. Logan Lynn, public relations/innovations manager for Q Center, confirmed that he had seen the email, but had no further comment on its content. Mars Hill Pastor Tim Smith has not yet responded to a request for comment. Updates to follow as further information and reactions are received.
The community thoughts and reactions quoted in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of the post’s author or of PQ Monthly.
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It is upsetting to me that there is such a disjoint between faith and the gay community. I am agnostic myself, but I see the beauty and usefulness of faith in people’s lives.
That so many gay people feel they have been victimized by religion is upsetting, but understandable. However, allowing that to cause you to do things like this is only displaced anger.
There is enough animosity on both sides to power the world for decades if we could harness it. What we really need is for people to stop hating and start seeing each other as people, rather than enemies. I think Mother Theresa said it best when she said “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” Empathy and forgiveness is the only thing that can heal this divide.
What do you mean, feel? Queers are victimized on religious bases on a daily basis both here and worldwide. It’s not just a ‘feeling,’ it’s being beaten, fired, evicted, denied civil rights. All of those things are real victimization, and there is no source for them other than religion.
Portland isn’t that big of a city, there aren’t underground Homo mafias here that nobody knows about. If you are curious as to who might have done this, let’s take a look back at who the main protesters were when it opened. Chances are.. You give them 5 dollars every 4th Saturday of the month. Which in my opinion is equivalent to supporting this kind of juvenile behavior. Im not a fan of organized religion, or the spreading of hate towards a specific community… But rocks? C’mon. What if there were to be someone who wasn’t affiliated with the church who was in there doing janitorial work and they were hit in the head? Did these people stop to think that often time church janitors work in the middle of the night? I think if these gay rights “activists” want to go around “queerupting” they should put more thought into it. Perhaps by using the money that they rob from the queer community to buy a catapult to fling rocks from Rotture where they can hide behind their glitter and money.
Darlene Connor,
Though your accusations seem very well thought out, last night at 3:30am I was happily sleeping miles away on my mattress made of “Money and Glitter” with my harem of men, While pondering spooky conspiracy theories, It’s amazing to me and a few others how nobody’s concerned about this “email”? no one has even seen it, first it says the vandalism was claimed by a “Gay Rights group”, Mars Hill runs the story and now it appears the the email was signed by “Angry Queers”?! sorry but it seems very strange that a group of queers would send a communique to FOX NEWS! and yet still no one has seen this email? why isn’t it posted, yet our community is being slandered! even more spooky, what if this Church did this themselves to gain more members and sympathy? We still have NO PROOF IT WAS DONE BY ANY GAY OR QUEER and still this email sent to FOX NEWS remains a secret.
call me a wing nut conspiracy dyke but i just want to be clear, the only people who at this point have seen this email are the FOX station & the church, (who has already admitted to changing the language in the email from Angry Queers to gay rights group) so at this point all this is based on the churches press release. correct?
http://www.pqmonthly.com/2012/04/angry-queers-email-mars-hill-is-anti-gay-q-center-doesnt-represent-us/
If you’re militant or throw a brick after suffering the oppression of say oh, i don’t know, the church, or the police, or the state at large or you even just reject the liberal discourse it means you’re ignorant and stupid. Therefore the Stonewall Riot was ignorant and stupid, right?? Oh but I guess that doesn’t matter because according to Logan Lynn… “Lynn said he realizes the Q Center’s stance may not reflect the feelings of everyone in their community, but he said it’s an accurate representation of the majority.”
’”Mars Hill Church representatives said they hold “traditional Bible-based views on homosexuality.”’ that means they they believe YOU ,me, our mere existence & our choice to live as an out queers is WRONG. why are we trying to talk to these people when there are PLENTY of other churches in this town that have open & affirming policies towards the LGBTQ community? If you wanna help a church so bad, why not at least help on that doesn’t think you are an abomination? there’s a reason THIS one was targeted. its b/c they have no intention of suddenly saying “QUEERS ARE AWESOME”. so why do these people get so fiercely defended by gay men? (at least on facebook) it makes no sense.
That sucks. As a gay atheist man, I’m saddened by the destruction of the historic windows. I don’t see how this was a constructive act of protest.
As a member of the original queer Christian Church, Metropolitan Community Church of Portland, I condemn the actions of these few who are so ashamed of their actions that they won’t put their name to them. We want freedom from oppression and full equality. Many of us choose to reclaim our Christian faith as an action of justice. Many followers of Christ disagree with churches such as Mars Hill that distort the scriptural messages that they claim promote the heterosexist lifestyle and condemn our diversity. We don’t let those differences drive us to violence. We persist to demand justice and equality in non-violent ways, as maturity and responsibility demand. Today some of us will be helping them to clean up your mess.
Darlene Connor,
Though your accusations seem very well thought out, last night at 3:30am I was happily sleeping miles away on my mattress made of “Money and Glitter” with my harem of men, While pondering spooky conspiracy theories, It’s amazing to me and a few others how nobody’s concerned about this “email”? no one has even seen it, first it says the vandalism was claimed by a “Gay Rights group”, Mars Hill runs the story and now it appears the the email was signed by “Angry Queers”?! sorry but it seems very strange that a group of queers would send a communique to FOX NEWS! and yet still no one has seen this email? why isn’t it posted, yet our community is being slandered! even more spooky, what if this Church did this themselves to gain more members and sympathy? We still have NO PROOF IT WAS DONE BY ANY GAY OR QUEER and still this email sent to FOX NEWS remains a secret.
is probably this? a+ reporting.
First, this isn’t an example of ‘reverse homophobia’ because that term isn’t real. So lets move out of that nonsense statement. Mars Hill is not owed reparations by anyone and neither is this a sign indicative of queer faith relations. Queer community is extremely diverse (just like you straight people) that dont get along, disagree, have many modes of being, etc. Therefore, I think this incident (if it is even one) requires a much more nuanced response instead of the liberal take that spouts off innocuous things as “hate is hate” or something other that doesn’t look at historical injustices, civil disobedience, self-defense, or even how to repair harm in our own communities.
While I do not care about the promoters Blow Pony- but I am certainly not going to stand by while radical queers are written off as just being ignorant and angry and are thus the same as those that perpetuate violent homophobia on a individual and institutional basis.
No tears for this church being vandalized and no respect given to any queer that wants to give them money to repair their building. Also- no more having radical stances pitted as being “hateful” or “not productive” because violent and hateful homophobia needs cannot just be dealt with by asking politicians to protect people. Violence down the power hierarchy is oppression; violence up the power hierarchy is self-defense. In terms of which kind is remarked on within the mainstream the standard is the opposite: violence down is normal and not usually commented on by authorities; violence up is always attacked and denounced.
I hope some sexy, angry queers (like myself) smashed this shit up and will continue to until Mars Hill cannot exist peacefully in Portland. There is no peace for queers — we are murdered, bashed and ridiculed every fucking day. To have some windows of a huge INSTITUTION THAT PERPETUATES AND BREEDS THE HELL WE LIVE IN EVERY DAY smashed is a small victory and a boost in morale.
You’ve been murdered, bashed and ridiculed? Yeah right. What has most likely happened is someone disagreed with you and your narcissitic ass can’t accept that other people are allowed to believe what they want. Even people in the most “backwards” part of the country are scared to offend gay people any more and have been for 20 years because you psycho bitches can’t deal with anyone disagreeing without claiming you’ve been murdered. Get real.
Airick,
Nobody said anything about you, sorry if you are taking offense to this. As a queer woman in this community.. I’m just simply stating facts.
darlene,
Airick runs the night BlowPony that regularly uses the word “queerupt” in its advertising. It is also hosted at Rotture. So regardless if you wanted to refer to him on purpose or by accident, it’s not exactly difficult to see why he thought he was being targeted.
/perry
Was the bank homophobic? It seems odd that was attacked too.
“If it was an effort to make an eye-rolling media spectacle focused on the queer community, it succeeded….”—Logann Lynn
I certainly rolled my eyes at this one, as I often do at a particular faction of the queer community. And those who know me well know that I’m queen of eye rolls.
And whoever did this claims to do this in memory of two dead trans from Chicago? Really?!? Was this their last wishes? Do you even know them? Or did you just learn about their passing from tumblr accounts?
And I’m rolling my eyes at some of these responses as well who have no remorse for an act of violence. All because of some pastor’s statements? Speak out. Don’t act out. If you want to act out against someone violently, then why don’t you seek out those who physically oppressed your dearly departed in Chicago.
[insert lemming comment about taking the high road here]
Its good to see that people value the windows of an old church over the lives of (fellow) queer people.
I love the priorities of gay people. Always so on top of things.
I’m tired of hearing feedback about issues within the gay community in Portland when most of those being asked to comment are the typical white privileged queers. Q Patrol and Q Center and Q Anything is a real setback for all queer people. They don’t challenge the current community that is more concerned with horrendous and offensive drag or dance nights centered around the consumption of alcohol and attitude. I moved to Portland expecting something revolutionary but all i’ve come across is racism, sexism, elitism, and self-aggrandizing posers. blah blah blah……..
One more thing….. Stonewall was a riot! come out, come out and try it!
Darlene is only repeating what Airck stands on stage and says every month at his party, encouraging people to participate in violent acts like these, as recently as last month. He’s encouraged people to attack this specific church on his facebook page and I wouldn’t be surprised if the seattle branch received attacks while he’s there with is party this weekend. Its really unfortunate that he’s not more intelligent to think of better ways to express his anger. I won’t be giving any more money to him or a party that encourages violent acts and had more straight people than gay people the last couple of times I was there anyway.
They were ugly windows that no one was aware existed before this story…whatever. I’ll leave the question of whether someone actually did them a *favor* alone for the time being. Here’s something else that the vandalism did: refocus our attention on the fact that there is a rapidly growing, radically homophobic (& sexist) church that needs to be stopped. Oh and another thing it did: remind us how the Q Center has positioned itself as the dialogue-having ‘responsible liberal’ in all this — and how dangerous and totally offensive that is.
Here’s a perfect example: “These sorts of vigilante attacks only undermine the inter-community work we are doing and, frankly, turn queers from the OPPRESSED INTO THE OPPRESSOR.” – Logan Lynn. (emphasis added)
WTF?!!!! Q: How does targeting a homophobic church with *property destruction* (or actual violence for that matter) turn an oppressed person into an oppressor? A: Uh, it doesn’t at all. This framing by the PR person (!) at the Q center betrays a severe lack of understanding about what oppression is and how it works. Would the NAACP urge people of color to meet with white power groups to ‘find common ground’ ?! OF COURSE THEY FUCKING WOULDN’T!!!!
There’s still no proof this was perpetrated by gay people. It might well be a publicity stunt by church members, a feeble attempt to claim victimhood and pretend that gays are a “threat”.
Remember the student at George Washington University in 2010 who claimed swastikas were being put on her door? It turned out she was doing it herself. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is what happened in Oregon. Why would gay people label themselves “angry queers”?
Apparently you’ve never been to Oregon.
Not surprised,
You are absolutely right. he thinks he is the gay messiah. He
Needs to take ownership of this. Btw Airick nobody said anything
About a “harem of men” so stop trying to flatter yourself. Youre a 40
Something year old man who boozes up 22 year old radical queers
And brain wash them. I stopped going to blow pony because of
Those hitler-esque rants you go on about bashing back (which you are not a part
Of bash back at all so stop trying to coin that) As a woman in this
Community I don’t think anyone is safe around you and you need
To go tell everyone who was really behind all of this. If you’re that
Radical why do u need to hide?
What I would like to know is, why do people immediately accept that the people who did this are indeed who they say they are? Why doesn’t it occur to everyone that someone might be pinning this on gay people, trying to make them look bad? It would not be the first time someone tried to do something like that.