KEIZER, Ore. -- An anti-gay marriage message outside a Keizer, Oregon bowling alley was taken down following backlash from the community.
A viewer sent KATU News a photo of the sign outside Town and Country Lanes at 3500 River Road North Wednesday morning.
The sign, likely protesting last month's Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage, was up for several days and read: "Judges making decisions contrary to the word of God will they themselves be judged."
"It's obvious what he was talking about. He was not pleased that gay marriage is legalized and he's welcome to that opinion, but don't go posting it for families to see, driving by your business," one Keizer resident said.
When a KATU News crew arrived to the bowling alley Wednesday afternoon, the message was changed to: "Thank you for voting T&C Lanes best in the Valley every year."
The bowling alley's owner told KATU he stands by what the sign read and insisted it wasn't changed due to community backlash.
"My statement may be stronger than I should have put, but I'm not a sugar-coater," Don Lebold said. "I truly am not trying to offend anyone. I'm just so concerned where our nation is headed and the ungodly decisions that are being made and outr nation is just going down hill and we're going to be judged for it. If we don't start turning back to God, we're going to be in deep trouble."
The bowling alley received backlash about the sign on its Facebook page throughout the day.
Employees say they had nothing to do with the sign, and told Facebook users to instead contact Lebold with any questions. That post has since been deleted.
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