{"id":430064,"date":"2026-08-11T20:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/430064\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T20:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:36:14","slug":"a-fresno-churchs-pride-themed-gods-doors-are-open-to-all-display-vandalized-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/430064\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fresno Church\u2019s Pride-Themed \u201cGod\u2019s Doors Are Open to All\u201d Display Vandalized Twice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The First Congregational Church of Fresno \u2014 known colloquially as \u201cThe Big Red Church\u201d \u2014 has experienced a second act of vandalism directed at its LGBTQ-affirming installation of rainbow-colored doors this summer, per a report in local Fox affiliate KMPH<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The doors, which were painted in Pride colors and bore the message \u201cGod\u2019s doors are open to all,\u201d were vandalized this weekend, as parishioners discovered early Sunday morning. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are disheartened by this incident, but we want the community to know that this will not deter our congregation from opening its doors to all,\u201d The Big Red Church said in a statement to KMPH<\/a>. “The Big Red Church has been an Open & Affirming congregation for more than 30 years.”<\/p>\n

Rev. Simon Biasell-Moshrefi, the church\u2019s pastor, told local partner affiliate stations KSEE\/KGPE<\/a> that he was notified at 6 a.m. on Sunday, August 9, that some of the doors had been knocked over and smashed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unfortunately not the first time that these doors have been vandalized. It happened earlier this summer as well,\u201d Biasell-Moshrefi told KSEE\/KGPE.<\/p>\n

The damaged doors did not stay down long, as Biasell-Moshrefi said that neighbors reinstalled the display by the time Sunday services had ended. <\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time everybody exited church, our neighbors had reinstalled the doors and put it back up, which is one of the wonderful things about this neighborhood, the Tower District,\u201d Biasell-Moshrefi said.<\/p>\n

The Big Red Church has been a part of the Tower District neighborhood for 76 years, per KSEE\/KGPE, and has served as a hub for art and culture in San Francisco. Biasell-Moshrefi said that his congregation is open and affirming, including to LGBTQ+ people, stressing, \u201cWe want them to be in our church, and we want them to thrive.\u201d <\/p>\n

The church\u2019s open embrace of LGBTQ+ people has also reportedly led to negative and homophobic voicemail and social media messages throughout the years. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur church members unfortunately have gotten used to that kind of hate language, that treatment,\u201d Biasell-Moshrefi said. \u201cSo while this wasn\u2019t anything new, it\u2019s still painful to experience that kind of treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest instance of vandalism would not deter the church in its mission, according to a statement offered to KSEE\/KGPE. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that all people are sacred creations of a loving God,\u201d the church said. <\/p>\n

The Fresno Police Department told KMPH that the incident was not being investigated as a hate crime. The Big Red Church also left a message of resilience on its social media pages. <\/p>\n

Alongside a picture of the doors standing tall, the church wrote, \u201cThey left a mark. We\u2019ll leave a brighter one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get the best of what\u2019s queer. Sign up for Them\u2019s newsletters<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The First Congregational Church of Fresno \u2014 known colloquially as \u201cThe Big Red Church\u201d \u2014 has experienced a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,36698],"class_list":["post-430064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-hate-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}