"God Hates Fags" Protesters Visit MoCo

The "God Hates Fags" group from Westboro Baptist Church came to our county today, because one of our schools is named after a dead poet who may have been gay. The Washington Post has the story -- follow the link for video, too:

A group of seven congregants from Topeka, Kansas, set up outside Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda today to protest the sexual orientation of the dead poet for whom the school was named.

The police presence -- 40 officers, five horses, blocked-off streets and a football field's length of yellow tape -- seemed comically disproportionate until the counter-protest arrived.

At 2:10 p.m. dismissal, 500 students issued forth from the campus and lined up, several students deep, along the police tape, across Whittier Boulevard from their foils. They alternately chanted the school name and "Go home!" drowning out voices from across the street.

Whitman, a 19th century poet with major influence on American literature, is generally regarded as gay, but his sexual identity remains enigmatic.

The Westboro Baptist Church has gained national notoriety for its anti-homosexuality demonstrations, staged provocatively outside military funerals and at schools that are putting on the musical "Rent." This morning, before heading to Whitman, they showed up at the funeral of the Middletown, Md., family that perished in a murder-suicide last week, claiming that those deaths, like the military casualties, were God's wrath toward a godless people. Police asked them to leave.

But at Whitman, the protesters arrived to palpable excitement. Faculty had spun the event into an interdisciplinary lesson. English teachers spent the day teaching Whitman's verse. Social studies teachers led a unit on tolerance. Math teachers fanned through the crowd, attempting a head count. Opposing Students Overwhelm Anti-Gay Protest

The news story says there were seven protesters, all from the Westboro Baptist Church, so it looks like none of our local Citizens for Responsible Whatever joined them. It doesn't sound like there was any violence or rowdiness, and it also sounds like Whitman kids have their heads on straight.

"This is my school, and this is where I live, and that makes it personal to me," said Maddie Oliver, 18, a senior. She wore one of many blue T-shirts emblazoned with the Whitman passage, "Let your soul stand cool and composed." Principal Alan Goodwin helped choose the slogan and hoped students would see its wisdom.

Indeed, no one was injured, and no property damaged. Rebekah Phelps-Davis, daughter of Westboro pastor Fred Phelps, said it was "the duty of the servants of God to go where the message needs to be heard."

Susan Russell, 17, a junior, said she hoped publicity stirred by the protest would "highlight how ridiculous they are. I mean, that sign -- 'You will eat your babies' -- that doesn't even mean anything."

Yeah, you do wonder what the point is.