I made a protest! :D

Today I crossed off "protest something" from my list of life goals. These horrible people, the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, KS, came to Myrtle Beach this week to protest at our churches and high schools. This group maintains several websites, all along the same lines - godhatesfags.com is their main one, but there's also godhatesamerica.com (and pretty much every other country in the world, apparently), godhatestheworld.com, jewskilledjesus.com, and priestsrapeboys.com. I'd say don't go to any of their sites, 'cause I think they get money for it, but if you're really curious about them, Wikipedia has some good info.

Anyway, what they believe is basically, anyone who isn't a member (all of whom are family members - incest apparently is okay) of their church is going to hell. Pretty much. Blacks, Jews, gays, other Christians, Hindus, the Pope, soldiers, and anyone who "enables" ANYTHING. EVER. They hate them all. And they picket at funerals, for victims of hate crimes and fallen American soldiers alike, they picket at churches (Catholics seem to be favorites), they picket at high schools, claiming that the teachers are allowing our children to grow up damned, believing homosexuality is okay and allowing different religions and all that. I don't even know, they're ridiculous and they hate pretty much everyone. Their picket signs say things like "God hate fags," "You will eat your children," "You hate God," "God hates America," and other stupid things that don't make much sense.

I don't know why they came to our town, but we were totally ready for them. :D They went to six high schools today, three in the morning and three in the afternoon, when kids were coming and going. They weren't allowed on the property, but they made sure they stood at high traffic areas, on a street corner or at a light. I made signs with my friends last night that said things like "I am human and I need to be loved" (mine obviously), "All kinds of love are fine, it's your hate you need to watch!" (a Margaret Cho quote!), and some Bible verses, like "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love," and "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins." It was cool, 'cause a lot of signs on our side quoted the Bible, and not many of theirs did. ^_^ We also made a big banner on a sheet that said "God loves everyone," which also seemed to be a pretty popular idea on our side.

We met at Socastee High at 7:45 AM, joined by about fifty other people we didn't know, and stood across the highway from the WBC jerks. Across from the school, lining the fence, there were many more of us, maybe over a hundred. From what I hear there was a DJ and all kinds of craziness. But I don't think there were any more WBC people other than the ones across from us. People were honking and yelling and throwing peace signs and thumbs up as they drove past us, booing and thumbs-downing the WBC, and the stupid people were singing, but we drowned them out with our yelling and occasional bursts of songs. A lot of people had funny or nonsense signs, saying things like "God hates Thai food," "God thinks you're totally awesome," "Dumbledore and Grindlewald forever," "God hates these Tetris blocks," and "Who brought donuts?" It was fun, but a little scary seeing these people in real life. They had a kid, maybe 10 or 11, holding signs saying these awful things, and he really believes it. That's scary. It was sad and enraging and terrifying all at once.

They left before we did, and some of us followed them down the road until they got in their cult van and drove away, and some of us stayed a little while on the street, holding our signs and wooing at the people honking for us. Then we got breakfast! :D

At 2:45 we showed up, this time before the bad guys, at St. James High, where I went for a year. When it opened in our sophomore year, half of our class went there while the other half stayed at SHS, so our class sort of feels like we belong there too, even though it sucks. :D Anyway, there were a CRAPTON of people there. Possibly over a hundred. Definitely close. It was pretty great to see that many people out there supporting this thing, and it was made even better by the fact that the WBC numbers were barely in the double digits. We won. ^_^ People were yelling and chanting (this group was very into the chanting) and all the cars were honking... it was really cool. And this was much less scary, somehow. The WBC didn't sing or chant or anything, but at one point one of the guys yelled over at a little girl on our side. He said "Not you, little girl, not you," I think because she or someone near her had a sign that said "God loves everyone" or something along those lines. But she was like, six! LITTLE-little. It was messed up. But he was the only one who shouted that I could hear, so I'm calling our shouting a victory. And they again left before we did, causing five solid minutes of shouting and cheering from us, and I'm calling that a victory, too. :D

All in all, it was a fun day and I really feel like I did something good, but there are also feelings of sadness, pity, anger, fear, and the fact that they don't care if we counter-protest. I mean, we didn't do it for them, but knowing it made absolutely no difference to them kind of sours it a little. But still, it was great to see our community come together like that, all religions, races, genders, sexualities - and in the Bible Belt and all! It was heartwarming to see the passion our side exhibited, and knowing that it was happening at four other locations with the same kind of results makes me really feel proud of Myrtle Beach. I'm proud of us, of our town, and most of our country for similar actions. It was a really great experience.