A Witness to My Neighbors

I live in a nice neighborhood of very nice houses with very nice lawns and gardens. Our house is a bit of an outlier in that it is one of the more modest houses, and the back part of the property is wooded and natural. A third thing that makes us different is our slightly unkempt perennial garden. Most properties have well-trimmed, boring shrubs with lots of mulch.

In a neighborhood such as ours we have an association with rules that govern what you can and cannot do, even on your own property. You sign on to those rules, most of which I agree with, when you purchase the house. But there are a couple of rules with which I take issue.

 After I rashly bought several hundred yards of eight-foot deer fencing I discovered that we are only allowed a particular black wrought iron fence on our properties. The neighborhood association president explained it was so that our neighborhood would be “consistent”. I shuddered internally, but there was no budging the association on that issue. The fact that no one could even see the fence from the road was not persuasive, either. I considered putting it up in the dead of night, anyway, since I figured it would never be discovered by the neighborhood “police”!

But there was one rule that I particularly agreed with: no one was to display political signs in their yard. This was the one rule that they chose to ignore.  For months before the last general election, and ever since, there have been several pro-Trump signs and flags on display. If anyone mentioned it at association meeting, I don’t know, because I am afraid to attend in case I get elected to some position, but they stayed up to my aggravation. In response I bought a nice garden banner with a rainbow and a selection of words: kindness, peace, equality, love, inclusion, hope, diversity. I hung it in my garden from June through October.

Last year a new Kentucky law came into being that upholds freedom of expression and removes the right of neighborhood associations to prevent a person from putting a political sign in their yard. We had an email from our association stating as much.

And so, since the Trump flags are still flying, I was motivated to fly my own version of a flag.

In my daily walks around the neighborhood, I made a count of the number of pride signs that are displayed. This summer there are two houses out of ninety-eight, which mirrors the general political tastes of rural Kentucky. My old banner was faded and so I made a new one. It shows a rainbow with the words Liberty & Justice 4 All. I stood outside after I had hung it and I dared anyone challenge the sentiments. It has been up for about two weeks now, and so far, no one has egged the house or torn the banner down. Three out of ninety-eight!