Posted on 11/03/2018 7:14:18 AM PDT by Vlad The Inhaler
TIERRA VERDE — Judson Kidd and James Donovan are a gay couple with an adopted black son. From the day they moved into their waterfront house last summer, they never felt welcomed in the conservative, overwhelmingly white community of Tierra Verde.
Neighbors never waved or introduced themselves, they said. One mother yanked her daughter away when she started to play with 2-year-old Van. Then came Halloween, and the disturbing decorations at the big house up the street.
The yard had been transformed into a graveyard. "CNN,’’ was written on one white cross, with a gruesome gray skull at its base. Other crosses bore the names of Democrats Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. A firepit contained a jumble of bones and a cross marked "George Soros,’’ the Jewish billionaire who supports liberal causes.
All had been critics of President Donald J. Trump.
Kidd was so appalled that he took to Nextdoor, the social media site on which residents of a neighborhood can post messages, whether offering items for sale or reporting suspicious behavior. Kidd’s message was more pointed.
"This is pathetic," he said of the graveyard display. "Can’t we take the politics out of Halloween?"
That elicited a quick response: "You’re disgusting. If you don’t like it why don’t you move."
Since then, a long string of comments has reflected the nation’s deep divides leading up to Tuesday’s elections. Some posts supported Kidd. Others strongly defended the graveyard.
That made Kidd and Donovan wonder: Is this a neighborhood where we want to raise our black son? Could he be the object of racist taunts or worse as attitudes become even more hardened and polarized?
"People hear things from the president and think, ‘If the leader of the free world says it, it’s OK,’" Kidd said. "Even my rhetoric has amped up, not that I’m proud of it. But this is the world we live in today."
Now in their early 40s, Donovan and Kidd have been together for 15 years.
Donovan came out just after the Sept. 11 attacks. Then working on Wall Street, he was getting his shoes shined near the World Trade Center when the first plane hit. He saw people jumping from 100 stories up and realized: Life is short. It was time to acknowledge he was gay.
Soon afterward, Donovan’s employer transferred him to Texas. He met Kidd, who had just graduated from Southern Methodist University, in a gay bar in Dallas. Over the following years they moved frequently as they married and advanced in their careers — Donovan as a media executive who once worked for CNN’s parent company; Kidd in banking, then as a Realtor.
Four years ago, they settled in the Tampa Bay area. They had a vacation cottage on Anna Maria Island — "Everybody there loved having gay friends," Kidd says — and a waterfront house in northeast St. Petersburg, known as one of the nation’s most gay-friendly cities. When the couple adopted Van, neighbors cooed at the baby and brought over gifts.
This year, Kidd found an attractive deal on a larger house in Tierra Verde with a prized view of Boca Ciega Bay. As they were moving in last July, two children, no older than 7 or 8, appeared with signs sporting Trump’s "Make America Great Again" slogan.
No one stopped by to say hello.
"This is the most unwelcome I’ve ever felt," Kidd said, "We’ve live in all kinds of Deep South states and in all those situations, I was surprised at how considerate people were. In Little Rock, Arkansas, it was pure Southern hospitality."
Several days before Halloween, Donovan was riding his bike when he saw the mock graveyard. In addition to the Clinton, Pelosi, Schumer and CNN signs, one grave was marked "Socialism" and another "Pocahontas" — Trump’s nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren — with a severed head nearby. Donovan was also struck by the tiki torches burning next to white crosses and signs that said: "Stay Away.’’
The graveyard seemed to be a message to all those who weren’t straight, white Trump supporters.
Kidd called the Tierra Verde Community Association and sent photographs. He heard nothing. That’s when he posted on Nextdoor and prompted the response so offensive that it was taken down. But there were dozens of other comments:
Oh, dear. Whatever happened to having a sense of humor. No, Halloween isn’t just for kids and God Bless the First Amendment. If a sign intimidates you, go to your safe place.
I’m guessing that it wasn’t your neighbor’s intent for you to feel uncomfortable and if it was, who cares. Be grateful you can afford your home. The are plenty of people who can’t afford a home at all.
Just remember, you moved here and those tiki torches probably were here before you.
There were postings in support, too.
I agreed with you Mr. Kidd. Our society has become increasingly coarse and aggressive. The adults are acting like children.
Putting the name of a living person on a gravestone implies you want them dead.
The nation is split and that includes Tierra Verde. This gallows humor is an insult to other neighbors and confusing to children who we want to teach that we are all Americans with values.
The white nationalists who held their rally in Charlottesville last year used tiki torches as they marched around chanting "Jews will not replace us" and other, much worse anti-Semitic chants.
Also joining the online conversation Sharon Rhoads, the homeowner with the graveyard. She cited her charitable work and her adoption of two orphaned children from Guatemala.
My husband and I hate NO ONE, she wrote. We teach our children that we are all ALL God’s people and we love them all — men, women, LGBT, black, white, Hispanic, Christian, Jew. Our graveyard was simply political satire designed to target that with which we do disagree, WHICH IS SOCIALISM.
Rhoads invited Kidd to have coffee, which he declined. That prompted more Nextdoor comments, some of which criticized him for not meeting with her.
"With that stuff in her yard, I’m not setting foot on her property," he said.
Rhoads did not respond to a call for comment. The Tierra Verde Community Association said it had no comment on the controversy over her Halloween decorations.
At first, Kidd and Donovan were so concerned about the graveyard and some of the postings on Nextdoor that they decided to sell the house and move. Then neighbors invited them to Halloween parties. Others thanked them for speaking out. Perhaps Tierra Verde was not quite as unfriendly as they thought.
They are going to stay, for the time being at least.
Perverts complaining....what’s NEW? Their poor adopted child.
Maybec the neighbors shuld bring them A fruit basket?
LOL!! TRIGGER!!!!
I think exDemMom had the right idea. It is important to know what i going on, and there is a lot of bandwidth at FR for another article.
I do understand your sentiment Pilgrim’s Progress, but you have to practice your own methods of limitation. Do what I do: don’t read the link.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of threads each day at FR that I simply choose not to open. The “Naked women strip for Democrat votes” is one of them. I don’t need to expose my eyes to what is surely going to be an assault.
Maybe that's because you're ... unwelcome. Not everyone is tolerant of virtue-signalling perverts.
I agree.’
Everyone has personal problems...Why do some people have to go national for comfort.
SuperduperBARFapalooza.
Gay couples are emotionally pals yes and love one another I’ll give em that
And hate each other too sometimes like all of us
But they are not married
Sexual fidelity is very very rare for homosexual unions or whatever we call them....I’ve never seen it
Old lesbian women yes.....they can and do stay with one another sexually
But men no....gay men have little restriction about partners if attracted to them
Tiera Verde is nice
Same sex adoptions is vile
That poor kid has probably already been molested.
I hope Susan Taylor Martin found her safe space.
The St. Pete Times bought the Tampa Tribune. The Pointers wanted to make sure the Tampa Bay SMSA stayed as blue as possible.
Politifact is run out of the Pointer Institute on 3rd St.
Bunch of socialist.
5.56mm
It's like that here in Maryland, too. I moved here from one of the friendlier northern large cities, Philly, and was shocked at the difference. I'm straight and white, so it wasn't that...
He sees something like that and first thinks of his sex life.
Too bad he didn't think to himself, "Life is short. I should repent before it's too late. My life could be over in an instant and I don't want to spend eternity separated from God."
But no.
Another alternative is to look at the top of the Forum listing of articles, where it says "Brevity: « Headers » | Text." Choose the "Text" button instead of the « Headers » button. That way you can preview a few lines of each article. It helps you filter your content preferences.
That is a solution, yes. Sadly, this simply isn’t the same news site we have back in 1998 when the subject matter was crooked politicians.
Frankly, who cares what queer has their panties in a wad . . . what significance does that have on anything.
True, there are some articles dealing with the homo agenda that has a rightful place here, such as those dealing with legislation or nefarious plots to attack non-homos.
This present piece is just a ‘We’re sad, please feel sorry for us.’
The world will be without any of them soon enough.
Maranatha!
Such Drama Queens. It’s ALWAYS about them.
For the benefit of young people, it pays to be realistic about the issues we now face in a Democrat-ridden society.
I was raised in a largely Republican community; yet somehow the reality that evil exists and that some people are evil just did not sink in, because I was pretty much surrounded by Christians and observant Jews at home, in school and in our neighborhood. Granted, this was a long time ago. But because people were generally "nice", it wasn't hard to imagine that they were universally "good" as well. I went out into the dog-eat-dog business world with a very superficial understanding, believing that old-time mantra, "People are basically good"—and I suffered accordingly for the first 20 years.
I had many harsh experiences before I recognized that 1) people aren't basically good, 2) being good requires discipline within a JudeoChristian spiritual code that one believes and accepts without twisting it towards one's own imagination, 3) some people are downright evil, and 4) no matter how good most people strive to be, everyone fails and does hurtful or evil things from time to time. Everyone.
So, while these articles may be unpleasant, they are a reminder how ardently we need to pray for the salvation of souls, and shoulder the Great Commission with humility and diligence. Only the individual salvation of many will produce a revival of godliness, virtue and rightousness in our nation. As John Adams observed, our constitutional republican system was created for a virtuous society, and won't work for any other kind.
“I was raised in a largely Republican community; yet somehow the reality that evil exists and that some people are evil just did not sink in, because I was pretty much surrounded by Christians and observant Jews at home, in school and in our neighborhood.”
I was raised in a 100% Democrat community———same thing.
.
Be my guest.
I stole it, er borrowed it!
Six foot concrete Wall is required in back yard in most of those garage door communities.
It’s a valid subject for discussion.
Nobody on FR has to click on the article.
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