Forever viral post about 'relentlessly gay' yard evokes new wave of clapbacks against homophobia

A popular story about a disgruntled neighbor complaining about a woman's "relentlessly gay" yard is going viral on social media yet again this year as the LGBTQ+ community celebrates Pride Month. Twitter user @christweetsllc brought the story back to the public's attention over the weekend by sharing a picture of the note that Julie Baker of Baltimore, Maryland, said she received from a homophobic neighbor in 2015. "Dear Resident of 4900 Kenwood Avenue. Your yard is becoming Relentlessly Gay! Myself and Others in the neighborhood ask that you Tone it Down," the anonymous letter reads. "This is a Christian area and there are Children. Keep it up and I will be forced to call the police on You! Your kind needs to have Respect for GOD."

Speaking to The Washington Post at the time, Baker said she found the note at the door of her Kenwood Avenue home where she had decked her porch with rainbow-colored jars. She explained that when she hung them up, she hadn't thought of them as having anything to do with the LGBTQ+ community. As a professional artist who has made rainbows a major theme of her work, she simply loved rainbows. However, when the note arrived, the mother-of-four said she was determined to send a message back.

"They call me relentlessly gay? Damn right, I'm going to be relentless. I'm going to be relentlessly joyful because life's too short for anything else," she said. "Relentlessly compassionate. Relentlessly amazing." As news of the note spread on social media, Baker's 17-year-old daughter suggested that she set up a GoFundMe page to raise $5,000 to put up lots more rainbow-themed decorations around the house and paint the roof in rainbow stripes. "All the parts of my house are going to be rainbow-fied," she told reporters at the time. "Have you ever met a person in your entire life that has seen a rainbow and not stopped and smiled? That’s going to be my house."

As for the letter-writer, Baker said she wasn't bothered about who'd written it. "I could care less if this person decides to be grumpy in whatever cave of dullness they live in," she said. "They can go under their rock and do whatever mean people do under their grumpy little rock. The Internet and all of these glorious people are taking this thing that some guy wanted to be an insult, and turning it into this battle cry. You just made the world explode in happy. I love that. I love that." According to The Baltimore Sun, Baker's fundraising campaign ended up raising about $43,000 with contributions pouring in from supporters all over the world.

Although Baker ultimately opted to return all donations amid questions about the letter's authenticity and citing "taxes and an overabundance of resources," the note still inspires a wave of clapbacks against homophobic neighbors every time it goes viral. "If anyone needs me I'm gonna be making my yard relentlessly gay as well," @christweetsllc, who is responsible for the letter's most recent resurgence, wrote on Twitter. Responding to their tweet, @Meidas_Ivy wrote: "Can someone please teach me how to make my yard relentlessly gay? That sounds amazing."

"The world would be a much better place if everyone's yards and gardens were Relentlessly Gay," tweeted @mmpadellan. "If someone doesn't name their band 'Relentlessly Gay,' what is the purpose of this timeline?" asked @pfunk1130. Some Twitter users also shared their own relentlessly gay houses and the silly critiques they've received. Here are some of them: