Read this the next time you think your neighbors are jerks.
The Baltimore mother of four who was told by her neighbors to tone down her "relentlessly gay" garden décor is speaking out about her "Christian" neighbors actions, revealing this isn't the first time she's been harassed and threatened.
"It was after one of the big eclipse events a few years back," Julie Baker told City Paper on Wednesday. "My daughters had lit candles celebrating our lives and put out incense as offerings to the universe. The next morning we found our pot bellied stove kicked over and a note that said 'your kind are not wanted here' it also mentioned devil worshiping and ended with a reminder that houses burn for no apparent reason."
"I didn't sleep much after that note," she added.
While Baker never discovered who authored the notes, she told City Paper that they started around the time that she and her now deceased husband declined to join the church across the street.
"My husband and I a long while ago were invited to attend the church across the street from us," she said. "My husband declined and mentioned that he didn't like church and joked I was a 'heathen.' I think it got mentioned around the neighborhood. I have no proof that the church was involved in this, though I would not be surprised."
Earlier this week, Baker received an anonymous note from her neighbors complaining that her newly installed rainbow solar jars that read "Love" and "Ohana" (Hawaiian for "family"), were "relentlessly gay." The note further went on to say that "this is a Christian area," and threatened police action.
"Your kind need to have respect for GOD," it concluded.
At her 17-year-old daughter's insistence, Baker, who identifies as bisexual, posted a photo of the note online. It soon went viral first in the Baltimore area and later nationally.
A GoFundMe campaign that Baker set up to help her add more rainbows to her home, quickly exceeded its $5,000 goal in less than a day. She currently has over $17,105 to rainbow-up her home.
"The point of the rainbows isn't about being gay," she said via Facebook chat. "It's because we love rainbows. I have a rainbow tattoo on my arm. We're going to decorate the white siding of our house with them."