"I'm here for my stoning." Those are the words that Jennifer Louise Lopez, a lesbian who lives in Harlem, New York, told a representative from The ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church on Tuesday.
Lopez approached the church for her punishment after she saw a sign outside the Harlem church that read: "Jesus Would Stone Homos." The sign also said "Harlem is a Homo Free Zone."
The church is the same one that made headlines in February for hanging a sign that said "Obama has released the homo demons on the black man. Look out black woman. A white homo may take your man," The Huffington Post reported. The church's pastor, Dr. James David Manning, has spoke out against what he claims is the advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
Lopez decided to take a stand against the church's bias and challenged them to stone her.
"I saw your sign and I'm here for my stoning, I'm a lesbian," Lopez said to the man who answered when she knocked on the church's door. She recorded the interaction and posted a video of it on Facebook.
Taken aback at first, the man looks around and then eventually says, "No, I don't have any stones."
When Lopez asks if they are going to send someone to stone her, the man replies: "Come back tomorrow."
Lopez wrote on Facebook she was inspired by Pamela Raintree, a transgender woman who in January asked Councilman Ron Webb to stone her. Lopez, a United Methodist Christian, told The Huffington Post she wants her actions to be an eye opener for other churches.
"I hope that by going up to the door and presenting myself as the human and the product of Goddess' creation, churches can begin to understand that us lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are the very same creations that they are.
"My Goddess is one of peace, love and inclusion for everyone," Lopez told The Huffington Post. "I would love to see that one day soon all of our churches, including any religion, are able to finally stop the discrimination toward LGBT people."
