New Counter-Protest Ideas for the WBC

The Westboro Baptist Church (this is wikipedia, I will not give them internet traffic) has become a well known anti-gay hate group (at least that is their predominate hate target). They've made news for picketing all over the country, including funerals, notably that of the late Heath Ledger for his work in "Brokeback Mountain."

Over the years I have seen pictures and videos of them to much disgust, but when I heard that they'd be protesting the first openly transgender mayor in the nation, Stu Rasmussen of Silverton in November, I knew I had to take part in the counter-protest. There is constant debate as to whether counter-protest are actually counterproductive because they draw more attention to them, but for me, it was important to be there in support of Stu. With all the family I had in Silverton, I basically grew up in there. Stu was the first transgender person I had met (that I know of), which definitely had a great impact on my life. Stu owns the Palace Theatre, (I highly recommend going!), and just seems synonymous with the quirky town. He was been involved with everything, so even when he won the mayor race again (he wasn't openly transgender the first time around), it took me a while to understand how monumental it was for the rest of the country. Soon enough he was all over national news, talks shows, blogs...everything! It wasn't long after that it came out that the WBC would be protesting him. (On a side note, I wonder why they didn't come in May when Sam Adams became the first openly gay mayor in Portland?)

I was partly excited that we had angered the WBC enough to come out to this small town in Oregon because it meant we were doing something right. But on the other hand, I was worried about how Stu might feel. They may have extreme views that can be easily ignored, but it would be ignorant to think that their virulent hate speech wouldn't hurt. I wanted to come out in support, and hopefully get enough people together to keep them from making a scene. Luckily for me, much of the town had similar ideas. We drowned out their hateful words with drums, songs and chants. Our large group with our rainbow signs, banners, and flags, were able to overwhelm their signs. We were warned that out signs and "out" presence would only lead to their increased anger and verbal attacks, but with such a large group, they gave up pretty quickly. Instead of staying home as previously planned, Stu came out to see our roaring crowd of support loudly escort them back to their cars. So perhaps he can look back on this day and remember it for the rousing support of his community.

Anyway, I was reminded of this story when I saw this great picture up at Friendly Atheist today:

Apparently, people are finding new ways to counter-protest. Too bad we didn't think of that! I find it very interesting to see how various groups are handing such a virile hate group. Here are some other neat counter-protest ideas:

Several groups have used "Angel Action," where counter-protests dress in white with tall angel wings, which are used to block the WBC members and signs.

The University of Chicago set up a mock protest with signs like "God hates the new facebook," and "God hates dial-up." There was also dancing to class gay club music ("It's raining men"), a drag queen acapella, and a party that raised money for a local LGBT youth center.

In Vancouver B.C., Pastfarians dressed up as pirates and carried signs like "God hates shrimp," a Leviticus reference in the same section that said it was wrong to be gay.

In Portland, counter-protesters with a "love-in" and outnumbered the WBC. They even got local businesses to donate money for every minute the WBC protested.

Here's a great clip of Michael Moore's counter-protest: