Donations pour in for woman’s ‘relentlessly gay’ garden
By Will Stroude
Yesterday we reported on the story of Julie Baker, who launched a campaign to make her garden even gayer after receiving threats and complaints from a Christian neighbour over her “relentlessly gay” yard decorations – and the response was overwhelming.
Julie – known as ‘Nixy’ to friends – decided to take action after finding a note from a “concerned home owner” posted through the door of her home, threatening to call the police if she didn’t ‘tone it down’.
Refusing to be intimidated by the note, the mother of four took to the internet in a search for “many, many more rainbows”, and promised that if she could raise enough money, she would paint her roof in rainbow colours.
Some of the touching donations Julie has received since the campaign went viral have been shared on a Facebook group dedicated to the story, including a note from another of her neighbours – this time thanking her for her brightening up the neighbourhood.
“My name is Sarah… I’ve been your neighbour for 31 years and I’ve always appreciated your yard. Here’s a rainbow for you!” it read.
Julie has since filmed a video thanking people for their support, and she’s got some incredibly powerful words about what it means to be ‘relentlessly gay’.
“Thousands of people that I don’t even know are standing up and saying it okay to be ‘relentless’” she says. “Something that started out as an insult, was supposed to be an insult, now is suddenly this wonderful thing, and why not?
“Why not be relentlessly you, why not be relentlessly fabulous? Why be subtle, why be shy? Why hide it? It’s okay to be who you are.
“I told my kids one of the reason I love rainbows is because they’re made up of broken light. It’s fractured, it’s cracked… kinda like a lot of hurt people. But because of it it’s beautiful, and maybe even more magnificent. And I think that’s one of the reasons I’m driven more to get this message out, especially since this message has kinda been dropped in my lap!
“So yeah, I’m gonna have a rainbow house, and it’s going to be fabulous. And it might irritate the person that did it, but it’s not about irritating the person that did it, it’s about being relentlessly joyful, and being damn proud of it, and sharing that with other people.
“I want the planet to go ‘hey, be relentless,’ because it should be a good thing.”
A the time of writing (June 19), the campaign to make Julie’s home a gay pride beacon has already raised a colossal $30,000 – click here to check it out.
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