Two local Scottsbluff women who serve as board members of Panhandle Equality group, a local advocacy group, have reported finding posters which are classified by them as hate speech.
Megan Koppenhafer and Ladessa Heimboch have reported discovering a poster which began a series of events that ended with the finding of another inflammatory poster in Gering neighborhoods and Scottsbluff on Monday.
Heimboch is the president, while Koppenhafer is vice president of Panhandle Equality, which advocates for people in the LGBTQ+ community.
The women told the Star Herald that a member of the organization saw posters in the Scottsbluff neighborhood on September 16 that had an image of a couple holding open an umbrella over two children with the words “Defend Morality” on it.
The posters were discovered in a tight radius which suggests that people living in the neighborhood may be the perpetrators.
However, on September 30, another round of posters with the same image was seen, but the phrase used was “Defend Decency.” Heimboch also reported finding a poster that used a disparaging label for homosexuals and contained a biohazard sign.
Similar posters have been circulated in Australia, Florida, and another places as cited on the internet.
