One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
The War on Gay Christmas: Vandals Tear Down Church's Same-Sex Nativity Scene
Vandals have torn down a gay nativity scene at a church this weekend, and local investigators are treating the incident as a hate crime.
The nativity scene portrayed at Claremont United Methodist Church isn't traditional at all: there are no shepherds, no virginal Mary and no baby Jesus — just three modern-looking silhouettes of couples that appear to be gay, lesbian and straight with the words "Christ is Born" and the Star of Bethlehem overhead.
The church's reverend Dan Lewis explained the thinking behind the nativity scene to KTLA: "We do believe that Christ is in the world for the outcasts and not for the privileged and so each year we want to represent that through our nativity scene."
The vandal knocked down the same-sex couples and left the heterosexual couple standing, which leads the church and investigators to believe that, yes, the vandals were specifically offended by the gayness of the nativity scene. That surprised the reverend because Claremont is a progressive college town. Of course, this being a progressive college town, the church has decided to leave the vandalized nativity as-is calling it "an evolving piece of artwork."
This isn't the first time someone tried to "de-gay" Christmas: a music teacher in Michigan removed the word "gay" from "Deck the Halls," which inspired Conan O'Brien to come up with a new canon of totally straight Christmas carols.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
