Anti-gay church to picket in various locations in Michigan

Westboro Baptist Church has announced on its website that it intends to protest in several Michigan cities next week. Among the targets are the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Hillel at Wayne State University, and East Lansing High School.

The controversial church has been protesting at funerals of persons who have died of HIV, as well as the funeral of Matthew Shepard. In the last decade they have shifted tactics somewhat to protest the funerals of soldiers slain in service to the U.S. They claim the soldiers are dying because God is punishing the U.S. for supporting homosexuals.

Their tactics are currently the basis of a pending Supreme Court ruling about free speech rights. A ruling is expect sometime in 2011.

Community leaders are not happy with the group’s planned appearance in East Lansing.

“While this organization has the right to express their views,” says East Lansing City Council member Nathan Triplett, “their bizarre and hateful message is antithetical to everything that a diverse and welcoming community like East Lansing stands for.”

“These folks have the most disgusting message in America, and that is saying a lot since there is a lot of competition for the label of most disgusting message in America,” says David Holtz, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Except for the brief time they are here, most people will ignore them. Most families have more important things to worry about like jobs.”

The announcement of the protest on the church’s website defined the reason for the protest as follows:

“WBC to picket the worthless brats who attend East Lansing High School, as well as their teachers and parents who have taught them from the cradle that God is a liar. You reprobates will hear some truth for the first time in your lives, to wit: God does NOT love everyone and it IS NOT okay to be gay or to fornicate with anyone or thing you please. Instead, you are to flee youthful lusts that war against your soul and seek to live sober, righteous and godly while on this earth.”

The notice also included Biblical passages and a reference to “Anti-Christ Beast Obama.”

Community activists are mobilizing to protest against the group.

“As a result of the repeated demonstrated practices of the Westboro Baptist Church picketers throughout the nation, we categorically oppose their presence at East Lansing High School,” says Nick Pfost, chair of the Michigan State University Alliance of Queer and Ally Students. “We intend to network with other students and student organizations to form a peaceful counter-presence, to ensure the safety and security of students and parents, and to demonstrate that bigotry is not a Spartan or Trojan value.”

“This organization feeds on publicity and I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of having a megaphone to spread their message of intolerance and hate,” says Triplett, the East Lansing council member. “We should use this as an opportunity to mobilize the community and to recognize that while East Lansing has taken action to recognize the equality of LGBT families our state and nation are woefully behind on this important issue.”

David Chapin, superintendent of the East Lansing Public Schools, says the district is still in the very early stages of planning ways to address the protest — which will happen just as the school lets out for the day. He says the school has been in dialog with the city as well as with the East Lansing Police Department.

High School Principal Paula Steele sent an Alert message to parents on Thursday about the planned protests. The letter reads in part:

“Following my meeting with the East Lansing Police Department representatives I called one of the school district’s legal council. As you know the free speech rights of the WBC members are protected through the First Amendment. School officials may control the time, place and manner of delivery of information. WBC protestors may not come onto school property. School officials protect the safety of students by assuring the protestors do not violate any laws or use language that may incite a volatile situation. The East Lansing Police Department officers are well trained in the skills used to manage protest situations.

This morning I have given notification to the faculty and staff of East Lansing High School that this protest is on the schedule for the WBC. I recommended to the faculty that we use this scheduled protest as the teachable moment for our students. This is an excerpt from my e-mail: ‘our calmness is warranted even though the position of the WBC may illicit impassioned personal opinions and feelings. We teach our students about the Constitution, and we help students engage in discussions where tolerance and appropriate sharing of differing opinions is practiced. The time of the WBC arrival corresponds with the end of our school day. Members of the WBC are stopping at two other Michigan locations earlier on November 18.’

I encourage you to discuss the WBC and their message(s) with your children. I am sure they have a web site. As you know, developing the ability to engage in substantive conversations where we share differing opinions leads to our ability to celebrate the diversity of ideas, people and cultures. Respect for diversity is the bedrock of our community. I anticipate media attention to this protest.”

Chapin says the district hopes to have a fully developed response plan by early next week.

It is important to note that on at least two other occasions, Westboro has announced protests in Michigan but failed to appear. The first was at Kalamazoo Central High School to protest the school’s production of the play “The Laramie Project.” That play deals with the murder of a gay college student in 1998. The student, Matthew Shepard, was brutally beat, stripped naked and tied to a fence on hill in Laramie Wyoming. He died in a hospital in Colorado several days latter, without ever regaining consciousness.

The second no show from the group was last spring. The group threatened to protest at the University of Michigan’s production of the same play. But they did not show. Instead, Andrew Shirvell, the recently fired assistant attorney general for Michigan, appeared with signs attacking openly gay student body president Chris Armstrong.

The group did show up earlier this month as invited speakers to a journalism class at Central Michigan University.