Indiana Church Vandalized With 'Heil Trump,' Swastika & Gay Slur

By Stephen Gossett in News on Nov 14, 2016 7:30PM

Photo: Kelsey Hutto / Facebook

A church in Indiana was vandalized with racist and anti-gay graffiti over the weekend, according to reports.

The Rev. Kelsey Hutto, Priest in Charge at St. David's Episcopal Church, in Bean Blossom, IN, shared photos of the hate-speech tags that were sprayed on the church. The incident happened sometime Saturday night, according to Hutto. Bean Blossom is located some 40 miles south of Indianapolis.

"We are disappointed that our safe haven has been vandalized but will not let the actions of a few damper our love of Christ and the world," Hutto said in a Facebook post. "We will continue to live out our beliefs and acceptance of all people and respecting the dignity of every human being. We pray for the perpetrators as well as those who the derogatory marks were directed at."

Hutto searched for a silver lining on Sunday, telling the Indianapolis Star that the church "must be doing something right" to have attracted such hateful abuse.

"We stated one time that doing the right thing was not always the popular thing," Hutto told the paper. "We were targeted for a reason, and in our mind it was for a good reason."

As the paper notes, more than 200 incidents of hateful harassment have erupted between Election Day and the weekend, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"(Incidents) range from anti-Black to anti-woman to anti-LGBT incidents," SPLC wrote. "There were many examples of vandalism and epithets directed at individuals. Often times, types of harassment overlapped and many incidents, though not all, involved direct references to the Trump campaign."

On Monday morning, reports spread of a Maryland church being targeted with pro-Trump racist vandalism.