Post by anointedteacher on Nov 10, 2009 20:52:27 GMT -5
Westboro Baptist Church Organizes Homophobic Anti-Obama Protest Outside Sasha And Malia’s School
By Amanda Terkel on Nov 9th, 2009 at 10:52 am
By Amanda Terkel on Nov 9th, 2009 at 10:52 am
thinkprogress.org/2009/11/09/westboro-sidwell/comment-page-2/#comment-5875634
Westboro Baptist Church Organizes Homophobic Anti-Obama Protest Outside Sasha And Malia’s School
Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group that goes around the country staging anti-gay rallies at some of the most inappropriate places (e.g. the funerals of former White House press secretary Tony Snow, victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, and U.S. troops) with messages like “Thank God For AIDS” and “God Hates f*gs.”
This week, they’re bringing their hateful message to children in Washington, DC, planning pickets at a handful of local schools. This morning, they showed up outside of Sidwell Friends, the school that Sasha and Malia Obama attend. On Twitter, Megan Phelps-Roper — one of Fred Phelps’ grandchildren — posted a picture of the protest:
Washington Post education reporter Michael Birnbaum said that he spent the morning at the protest, and MSNBC host David Shuster wrote, “Hopefully, some of the more rational conservatives/republicans will condemn this stuff today. It was beyond the pale.” ThinkProgress contacted Sidwell for more details on the protest and are awaiting a response.
In the past, extreme anti-choice activist Randall Terry has also targeted the Obama children’s school, saying, “We will continue to show images of aborted babies at high schools, no matter what the cost.”
Update Ellis Turner, the associate head of Sidwell, told ThinkProgress that students and faculty members wearing rainbow colors staged a counter-protest. They held a banner with the Quaker phrase, "There is that of God in everyone" (seen in the background of the picture above). Turner said that none of the protesters attempted to come into the school. Joann Weiner
