WATCH: Kansas Church Targeted by Antigay Threats, Vandalism

Members and staff of First Metropolitan Community Church of Wichita want the public's help in finding the culprits.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

November 25 2015 3:56 PM EST

March 13 2017 4:49 AM EST

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The First Metropolitan Community Church of Wichita, Kan., has had a difficult year, with threats to its pastor by phone and mail, plus vandalism that has seen windows knocked out 84 times.

The threats began after court rulings brought marriage equality to parts of Kansas in November 2014, Pastor Jackie Carter told Wichita TV station KAKE. "At the beginning they were personal toward me because I stood on the courthouse steps and married people a year ago," she said.

Of the vandalism, she said, "In the past year there have been two weeks where I haven't had to replace windows in this church," at a cost of $20 to $70 each. There have been also attempts to steal church property, Carter told the station.

The church is part of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a denomination established to provide an affirming place of worship for LGBT Christians. More than half the members of Carter's congregation identify as LGBT. Her congregants and staff are now on edge, she told the station, and she appealed for the public's help in identifying those targeting the church.

First Metropolitan put up security cameras, she said, but that hasn't helped so far. "As police look at the video, they often are faced with a hidden person or someone who is dressed in such a way that there's no way to identify them," she said.