â€˜Protect Yourself: Avoid All Contact With These Infected Individualsâ€™

Residents in a Florida neighborhood were relieved this week to find that implicitly pro-Donald Trump, anti-Semitic, homophobic yard signs had disappeared following local uproar. Shortly after, however, a new, retaliatory and homophobic sign appeared just weeks before the areaâ€™s Pride festival.

â€œRoland Price placed five signs in his yard,â€ the local NBC affiliate reported of the initial signs. â€œOn them were the words Jews, infidels, an anti-gay slur and an offensive term referencing mentally handicap people. The last sign had the words â€œgreat again.â€

The signs can be seen below, though NCRM cautions that they are unedited to display their extremity:

No fags. No Jews. No infidels. No retards: Trumpist’s offensive signs cause stir in St. Petersburg neighborhood https://t.co/g3MsPvPYqN pic.twitter.com/zWqMRTE1hw â€” Norwood Orrick (@BlogWood) June 7, 2017

The station reached out to Price for comment, who advised his signs were self-explanatory, asserting that â€œthe previous administrations had too many Jewish and LGBTQ people in their cabinets.â€ He subsequently referenced a bible verse and confirmed his support for Donald Trump.

The signs were stolen shortly after, Price told the affiliate, noting that he was â€œupset that someone would violate his First Amendment right.â€

Following their disappearance, another sign appeared, referencing the areaâ€™s St. Pete Pride, Floridaâ€™s largest LGBT Pride scheduled to begin June 23rd. The sign, dated yesterday, largely displays â€œHealth Warning Notice,â€ and proceeds to advise that â€œa heavily concentrated mass of homosexuals, many with compromised immune systems (AIDS), will be entering the community in the coming weeks.”Â

â€œThey will bring active, transmissible, incurable diseases and viruses with them, including more than 40 cancer viruses,â€ it continues. â€œProtect yourself: avoid all contact, common surfaces and elements, and common airspace with these infected individuals. Contact Mayor Rick Kriseman for dates & tines. [sic]â€

The retaliatory sign, again unedited, can be seen below:

Last year, St. Petersburgâ€™s Mayor Rick Kriseman became the first mayor to raise an LGBT Pride flag above the areaâ€™s City Hall. Prior to the disappearance of the initial signs, a spokesperson for Kriseman told the Tampa Bay Times that the city was unable to remove them.

According to its annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, the Anti-Defamation League found an 86 percent spike â€œso farâ€ in 2017 â€“ and this year alone,Â more than 100 anti-LGBT bills in 20 statesÂ have been introduced.

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Image courtesy of Pinellas Democratic Party Chair Susan McGrath, used with permission.