The Church in Ocean Park was vandalized on Friday with homophobic graffiti scrawled across its walls and doorway, prompting an outpouring of community support and renewed calls for solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
Church officials discovered the hate-motivated vandalism Friday morning and quickly moved to cover the writing with makeshift paper barriers. The incident came days after the church received a similarly hateful email, suggesting the attack may have been premeditated.
Rather than retreat, church members and officials responded with defiance — with several congregants saying they were now considering expanding the church's existing LGBTQ-themed mural, which features rainbow flag colors across the entryway, to cover the entire building.
"We are not intimidated by cowards who destroy beauty in the middle of the night," said the Rev. Janet Gollery McKeithen, the church's pastor. "Your support strengthens creative spaces where people in the LGBTQIA+ community can share their stories, express grief and hope through art, and reclaim space together."
McKeithen launched a fundraising campaign to support recovery efforts, with donations directed toward repainting the restored space, hosting community circles and providing a renewed sense of safety for those directly impacted. The campaign can be found at zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/hate-crime-recovery.
Local officials also condemned the attack. Councilman Dan Hall called the vandalism a deliberate act of intimidation.
"This is an attempt to intimidate, to divide, and to push LGBTQ+ people back into the shadows," Hall said. "That attempt will fail. We will not normalize bigotry. Our LGBTQ+ neighbors and our faith community are essential to this city."
Hall added that those responsible were wrong to think hate could silence the community. "We will continue doing the work, in policy and in community, to ensure everyone here feels safe, valued, and protected," he said.
The attack struck a congregation with one of the longest and most prominent records of LGBTQ advocacy in Santa Monica. The church's commitment to the community stretches back decades, rooted in a history of taking positions that were considered radical for their time.
Former leaders established the church as a bastion of progressive values and McKeithen has built on that legacy. She has performed same-sex marriages since 2008, a direct violation of the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline, which until 2024 penalized clergy who officiated such ceremonies with suspension or permanent expulsion. McKeithen also fought against California's Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure banning same-sex marriage, a campaign that forged a lasting partnership with the Gay-Straight Alliance at Santa Monica High School.
That partnership produced the annual Queer Prom, a celebration for LGBTQIA+ youth ages 16 to 20, co-sponsored by the church, the school's Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Santa Monica Travel and Tourism, and the City of Santa Monica. The church has also partnered with Black TAQ (Transgender and Queer) to hold candlelight vigils memorializing murdered transgender people and has worked with the City of Santa Monica to establish name change grants for transgender individuals.
The Church’s strong stance has put it at odds with its own denominational leaders over the years but in recent years, the UMC General Conference voted to remove all LGBTQ restrictions from its governing rules — effectively vindicating the church's practices.
The church has also had its share of non-theological struggles, including a massive repair bill when the ceiling partly collapsed in 2021. However the church has endured and McKeithen said it remains open to all.