(OPINION) A community along the Jersey Shore established as a Methodist retreat in 1869 is building a pier out of its boardwalk shaped like a cross, prompting outrage from the neighboring LGBTQ+ enclave, NJ Advance Media reported Monday.
Ocean Grove, New Jersey, broke ground on a project to restore a pier jutting out of the boardwalk in July that will feature a design that resembles a cross from above. The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, the Methodist organization that founded the community and still owns most of the land, has said that the design is an “improvement” that will allow more people to enjoy being out over the water, compared to the pier that it will replace.
The project is part of larger restorations still ongoing since Superstorm Sandy devastated much of the Jersey Shore in 2012. Ocean Grove is located next to Asbury Park, New Jersey. Beachgoers can walk the boardwalk out of one town into the other.
Asbury Park — also founded as a Methodist enclave — was once a working-class community that has seen high levels of wealthy developer funding on its beachside, changing the demographics of the area and, according to some critics, pricing local black and Hispanic communities out of their own neighborhoods.
That process has led to the development of a thriving LGBTQ+ tourism industry, including hotels and clubs that cater to the community. The cross-shaped pier has ignited a clash between these two communities, as a local decries the project as “Christian bullying,” NJ Advance Media reported.
“Members of the small seaside town’s LGTBQ+ community and allies are saying the cross crosses a line, but many are afraid to voice their grievances with the Camp Meeting Association, said Douglas Grote, a local resident and retired Presbyterian pastor,” the article read.
The Camp Meeting Association owns the land the pier is being built on, so it does not legally count as a government project and does not require municipal approval. (Breitbart)
