Jayden, 5, Is Westboro Baptist Church Newest Foe

Jayden Sink is taking on the Westboro Baptist Church hate group — and the courageous 5-year-old set up right across the street to do it. On Friday afternoon, the little girl set up a stand selling pink lemonade outside The Equality House in Topeka, Kansas. The money is part of her fundraiser for the Planting Peace Project.

The rainbow-colored Equality House was painted in March in the colors of the gay pride flag, which must be particularly galling to their neighbors across the street. The Westboro Baptist Church has risen to notoriety for its message of hate, especially against the LGBT community.

They are infamous for demonstrating at high-profile funerals with signs that frequently include anti-gay slurs.

Five-year old Jayden decided to oppose the Westboro Baptist Church message of hate with an expression of peace.

Aaron Jackson, one of the founders of Planting Peace and the buyer of The Equality House, talked about Jayden’s effort in an email to the Huffington Post:

“As we all know, the Westboro Baptist Church puts a lot of hate into the world. Since we cannot stop them, the next best thing is to smother it with love. That is what 5-year-old Jayden accomplished [Friday].”

The crowd turned out. Jayden raised $400 selling the pink lemonade for $1 a cup — and she is currently raising even more online.

A rumor is flying that Westboro Baptist Church called the police Friday. If they did, the long arm of the law didn’t show up to arrest a 5-year-old peace-seeker for the high crime of selling lemonade.

You can contribute to Jayden’s campaign right here. At the time of writing, the brave 5-year-old had already raised over $4,000 — over 800% of her original $500 goal.

I think we can all salute the creativity of Jayden’s Westboro Baptist Church fight for peace.

[Jayden Sink photo by Planting Peace via CrowdRise]

[Westboro Baptist Church protest in NYC photo by David Shankbone]