'God Loves Gays' billboard goes up near Westboro Baptist Church

TOPEKA, Kan., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Remember when "God" said he wanted to plaster a pro-tolerance message on a billboard in the back yard of the Westboro Baptist Church?

Well, thanks to the donations of more than 3,700 funders, God -- or at least the mysterious person running God's Facebook page -- has raised more than $80,0000 in support of a "God Loves Gays" billboard in Topeka, Kan.

Back in August, the mysterious creator announced it had successfully reached its goal of $50,000 and planned to tweak the anti-gay WBC, which has been classified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The billboard (pictured) is about three miles from WBC headquarters.

Once the original goal was met -- with $25,000 aimed for a year of billboard space, $10,000 for campaign rewards and $5,000 for charity -- the Indigogo campaign introduced stretch goals that would allow for a $10,000 donation to the Trevor Project, $5,000 to the Equality House and another $10,000 to bus ads in Topeka.

"For far too long, nasty humans have made God sound like a bigoted jerk," God told Mashable, who confirmed his ownership of the social media accounts. "When really, nothing could be further from the truth. I'm super loving!"

WBC, for its part, has taken the new signage in relative stride.

"Thank God for that lying billboard! Every soul that sees it will either rejoice for the lie and the vain hope of afflicting the servants of God at WBC," said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a spokeswoman for WBC, in an email. "Or, they will sigh and mourn for that awful sin and all the parts of it, knowing that every single soul that weighed in with money or words, in favor of that lying billboard, will stand before God in the Judgment, so very ashamed. Knowing also, that when they stand before God in the judgment, it will be TOO LATE for repentance, and eternal torment will follow."

God says the billboard company, Lamar Advertising, was hesitant to allow God to purchase a full year of ad space.

"Thus far, they have only let Me purchase the billboard through March of 2015. I wanted to purchase the full year," God said. "I also wanted to investigate other bigger billboards around town. But before they'll do that the billboard company wants to see if the community accepts it and likes it first."