Parents Attack LGBTQ-Inclusive School Mural in 'Hate Fest'
A high school student in Grant, Mich., has been accused of promoting witchcraft with some images in an LGBTQ-inclusive mural she created at the school.There will now be changes to the mural, but the LGBTQ+ imagery will remain, Michigan TV station WZZM reports.The student artist, Grant High School sophomore Evelyn Gonzales, won a contest to create a mural at the Grant Middle School health center.
Her winning design included a boy wearing pink, light blue, and white, the colors of the transgender Pride flag; a girl in the colors of the bisexual flag, pink, royal blue, and purple; and a girl in rainbow colors.The final mural, however, had some elements that weren’t in her design, including a character from the video game Genshin Impact that had the face of a demon and a Hamsa hand (also known as the hand of Fatima), which is used as a symbol of good luck and protection in many cultures.
Gonzales said she added these because there was extra space to fill.Several parents complained about both these features and the LGBTQ+ imagery.
They thought the video game character represented Satan and that the Hamsa hand promoted witchcraft.“That’s not what I’m a part of,” Gonzales said, according to WZZM. “That’s not what I’m trying to put out there.” She added, “I put my art up there to make people feel welcome.”Gonzales defended the mural at a Grant Public Schools board meeting October 10.
