Ohio Billboards Debate God and Gays

There's a battle of the billboards going on in Ohio, with two churches offering supportive and not-so-supportive messages to LGBT residents.

In the spring the Central United Methodist Church of Toledo put up a billboard reading, "Being Gay Is a Gift From God." Last week the Church on Strayer of neighboring Maumee countered with nine billboards around the area proclaiming, "Being Gay Is NOT a Gift From God. Forgiveness, Love, and Eternal Life Are."

A leader of Central United Methodist said she isn't surprised that another church is advertising a different message. "I'm somewhat surprised it didn't happen earlier," Lynn Braun, chair of the church's lead team, told The Blade of Toledo. "We felt it important to express our faith this way. I think people have the right to express their faith the way they see fit, and I think it helps the community to know where churches stand."

The church is a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network, which advocates for LGBT equality within the United Methodist denomination. It recently replaced its original billboard with one reading, "Creating a Space for All God's Children Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity."

Meanwhile, Tony Scott, pastor of the Church on Strayer, told the newspaper his billboards are not hate speech. "I love everyone," he said. "There's nothing on that billboard about hate. I'm getting hate mail from lesbian and gay people, but my point is that I love them too much to let someone believe a lie. I love this city too much to let a lie be sown."

Same-sex marriage is being debated within United Methodism, as the official denominational policy does not currently support such unions, but to Scott, whose church is affiliated with the Church of God, a Pentecostal body, the issue is settled.

"God's definition of marriage is that he plumbed him and he plumbed her so that the two of them could procreate," he said. "Anything relationally between the sexes that does not have that potential, and that opportunity, does not come from God."