This morning I woke to see a front page headline about Westboro Baptist Church arriving to protest at a funeral about 10 miles from my house. This is a funeral for a family that died in too horrifically to describe here. I don't want to sully their memories with the mention of the Westboro Baptist Church in the same article.
I wanted to be part of the counter-protest. We all need to stand up and speak when these folks come to town. You can speak silent volumes just being there for the families who are about to be abused by this group.
Before going to the church, I started thinking about other times I had seen their protests online. I was struck by the fact they used their kids as human sign posts. Since they were going to be in my county, I called the Commissioner's Office and asked if it is possible to deploy the Child Welfare Department to the protest site in case any of these kids are being used as human pawns. I am asking with respect to a parent that would put a child in a toxic situation that Westboro Baptist is expert in creating. Does this child need to be evaluated with respect to the environment? After all, are we witnessing child abuse when Westboro Baptist places their children in a potentially dangerous situation? Like, what kind of parent does that to their kid?
An investigation could be initiated that may take a couple of days to complete. I am sure the taxpayers in my county would not have a problem footing the bill to make sure these children are not damaged in any way. Our foster care system would be a good spot for these kids as things are checked out. The county can take it's time and do everything by the book.
As I was looking online for information, I was having some trouble finding where to go. I had hoped to access one of the Westboro Baptist Church's many sites. It would have been handy to know exactly where they were going, however, it has been hacked. I'd like to ask the hackers who brought these sites down via denial of service attacks to at least leave an updated schedule accessible so we know where to go for the counter protests. I know it is fun to kick these guys in the shins in the virtual world, but there are some of us who want to fight bad speech with good speech in the real world.
On my way to the Church there were a number of police cars from both local and state jurisdictions. Once I got there, I parked at another church across the street. (This is Pennsylvania -- We like God here -- He has a lot of houses that He likes to stay at.)
Getting out of the car, I met a few people who were also waiting for the arrival of the circus. Those who wanted to counter-protest were being directed across the street to the parking lot in back. While walking to that spot I found myself walking near some of the mourners. This is a devastating situation as emotions are running very high. There are really no words you can say to folks walking into the sanctuary.
I felt at that point both heartless and helpless. I resented what these people from Kansas are doing to people in my area. I don't want to see these people abused or used for this group's aims. They are now empowered with the Supreme Court Seal of Approval to continue inflicting pain. We need to get more creative in countering these people.
As I arrived at the back of the parking lot I saw about 100 folks. The best thing about this, if there can be a best anything in this situation, was the incredible cross-section of people who showed up. Older folks to toddlers being held by their fathers; teenagers and twenty-somethings all the way up through middle age all stood respectfully in the cold as the parking lot filled with the real mourners. Socio-economically and politically, we were just as diverse. Some reporters wandered around.
As we stood there we talked about what brought us there. We all wanted to let Westboro Baptist Church know we don't think much of their faith. We all wanted to let those attending this funeral know we wanted to protect them. A couple people really knew the comings and goings of the Westboro Group. Dave was one guy who really knew his stuff.
Looking at the full parking lot, I started to think about where Westboro Baptist would park their rig. I had this vision of seeing 20 or 30 cars sealing it into a parking lot so it could not move out. If each of those folks had flattened tires so that they could not move their cars, could you imagine how long Westboro would be stuck in a community?
Eventually, the woman who organized this counter protest walked up and said that Westboro Baptist would be a no show today. Everyone exhaled the sigh of relief. As people peeled off small groups of folks continued talking about where do we go from here.
People are frustrated at Westboro and the Supreme Court. When I expressed the thought that the Supreme Court may have gotten it right, I could see some eyes slit. But keep in mind that if they had gone the other way with their decision, it would have been a continuing civil right avalanche that started with Citizens United. We talked as we walked to our cars for about 20 minutes more until the local police chief walked by.
Bending his ear for a moment we found out that it could cost well over $3,000 in preparation and police services to protect the community from the beast known as Westboro. The Chief basically said there is no way the town can recoup the costs since Westboro did not file a permit. He said this is basically a media thing.
We had broken up by this time.
On my way home, I started thinking about how we can put Westboro Baptist out of our misery. I realized, while Westboro did not formally file for a permit, they did, in fact, issue a notification that they would be appearing at this church (Link second page). Taxpayer money was spent on their word, only to be wasted when they did not show up. If I were a resident of Towamencin Township, Pa, I wonder if I would have legal standing to get my tax dollars back in small claims court? After all, they just wasted my taxes with making my police chief run around trying to prepare for their arrival.
Wouldn't it be cool if a bunch of residents filed individual claims against this group in each little town they teased? Wouldn't they need to fight each claim? If they lost a claim, could get a jury trial. Would this be the financial death of a thousand cuts?
Would the thought that you could help solve the Westboro Baptist Church problem make you want to serve on a jury?
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Because phred felps does not care about ridicule, making fun of his gang doesn't work. Ignoring them works best, but it only encourages them to make even more outrageous claims. You have to be willing to have even more outrageous claims.
They like confrontation because then it becomes a legit news story, and theres always a chance someone will get mad and pee on their shoes, and phred felps will sue. Staging a counter mock protest with street theater feels good to all but the grieving, who will be resentful.
It seems to me the best solution is to ensure that protests have to file a permit in your community, and then organize volunteers to fill out the paperwork every time your community loses someone. Then when Phred comes to town, his permit gets turned down legitimately because someone else was there first. Better yet, have 3-4 groups file for a permit, so all but one gets turned down; since then you're not discriminating against the WBC folks.
but allow the individual taxpayers to petition for redress, since it appears the local government cannot.
I would like to point out that they can be stopped by a law against hate speech; it's what lets us Canadians stop them at the border.
Is a law against hate speech against the first amendment? Well, we have freedom of speech and press in Canada, but freedom of speech is limited by the rights of others to have dignity, self-respect and safety, and freedom of the press is limited by a responsibility to report truthfully and accurately as possible.
If I did live there I would file a case in small claims court against them for the amount of my taxes being used in this stunt.
This is no different than running away after pulling a fire alarm.
The Westborians may not be associated with the Baptist Convention. But that doesn't matter.
There has not been any outcry , no outrage, no notice of the abominable hate-mongers by the Baptists.
They should send representatives to every protest. They should drown out the ugly words with hymns of praise. They should surround the protesters with their loving presence. They should carry signs of hope and love that overshadow the signs of hate and bigotry.
Then maybe they'd begin to realize that the Muslims may have a problem with extremists high-jacking their religion and quit with the Islamophobia that is rife in their own house.
Their lawyer-in-chief (can't recall her name) is the political director of the group. Would that not also confuse the religion-political issue?
We who lives by the writ......
Everyone who can should go against these westboro leaches. File a complaint against them at every opportunity. Make them revisit each town where they have traveled to spreading misery. Haul them into court continually until they loose their will to be evil.
Joe might be the original organizer.
The key elements and tasks might be:
1. An alert of the groups activities; both longer term and in the near term. (one person who would circulate the list to the rest of an action committee).
2 Collect photo graphs of the group using children in their messages as active carriers of the message.
3. Select the most egregious cases there they are going to appear and the committee agrees on actions in these locations.
4. Contact the a local pastor or funeral home to try to make contact with possibly concerned citizen that might lead a demonstration. Have a press release ready for such a person to go into a local paper. Make it news.
5. Use the local contact for names of social welfare officials to which a pre designed case could be sent. Start the process with a telephone call, follow up emails and letters to the appropriate agency and local newspaper for more publicity.
6. Contact the local police and see if they are going to have extra work and if so at what cost. Ask them for the name of a local attorney who might represent someone in family court or someother appropriate court.
Follow up for next steps.
get the final number on the cost to the community - what were they forced to spend to theoritically protect these people.
divide by the number of people in the town.
That should be how much each person is entitled to from Westboro.
I don't know if the situation of today's funeral could be eclipsed by the tragedy of what happened in the Amish Country.
both are horrific situations.
My question is - what do these people live on?? Where do they get their funds? I know people can be incredibly stupid, but who would be enough of an idiot to donate to these cretins?
If they enjoy tax free status then they have to allow anyone to join... right?
Stop waiting for them to show up.... bring the fight to them.
Buy up the land around their compound and erect towers that blare scripture at them all day.
I think everyone in the country should start a church and hide all of their assets, cars, homes... everything in that contemptuous little tax haven.... if the creeps from WBC can get away with it along with tens of thousands of other crooks, then no one should have to pay taxes.