Does anybody counter-protest at the Westboro church? Maybe a prayer vigil outside? Or would that just feed into their need for attention? Um, I think I may have answered my own question on that.
I thought there were some “biker types” that were “standing between” folks like this and the funerals. If there are not, then there should be. Nice “cause” for the Harley-Davidson folks I’d think.
I have met them before and have counter protested against them.
In our case, they were scheduled to protest at three churches one Sunday. They were not allowed on the church's property and could only stand on the public sidewalk. So as not to give them a reason to challenge being not allowed on church property, we stayed on the sidewalk, too. A couple of times, church members came out and gave us coffee. The church members offered the WB people coffee, too, and the WB people seemed to not know what to say, so they screamed louder.
It was a protestant church, and their signs were mostly protesting homosexuals.
They protested at the church during the service and then when services let out. As soon as the crowds thinned out, they left and went to the next church, which is maybe a mile away.
At the second, a Catholic church, the sidewalk was rather narrow and the parishioners had to walk down the sidewalk to get to their cars. Again, they protested outside on the sidewalk during the last part of Mass and as the parishioners attempted to leave Mass and navigate to their cars.
The way to the parking lot was nearly obstructed by the WB people and their signs, and as a result, parishioners were being screamed at at close range. They seemed to focus on children and the elderly in particular.
They are very careful to stay on the right side of the law, though. Completely blocking the way or touching anyone would subject them to immediate attention from law enforcement. There wasn't a police officer at the 1st church, but thankfully, there were two at the second.
We walked between the church goers and the WB members as the parishioners left Mass. They get as close as you'd ever want anyone you didn't know to get to you, and scream at the top of their lungs. They'd changed some of the signs and seemed to be protesting Catholics in general and had some of their "regular" anti-gay signs as well.
It was freezing cold, we were numb from being outside. I'd been sick the week before, so when we received word from one of the other counter-protesters that WB was not going to go to their 3rd scheduled protest, we ended up not going either.
It turns out that they did end up at the 3rd church, but were limited in their ability to come into contact with members due to how the property was laid out.
Being screamed at at high volume was a very interesting experience. I normally shy away from any sort of close contact with non-family members and loud noises, and sometimes get panicky when people are too close. I felt serene during both protests, though. Nothing they said bothered me in the least no matter how close they got.
All of the other counter protesters had similar experiences. I found myself praying for them as they screamed obscenities and others said later that they'd done the same thing. God gave us that peace and grace, and we were thankful for it.
Or would that just feed into their need for attention? Um, I think I may have answered my own question on that.
Does it feed their need for attention? I don't know. Having seen them in action close up, it's hard to describe, but they seem to be screaming a predetermined message with absolutely no passion or even much interest. They may as well have been screaming a grocery list. They had flat, hollow voices and sounded detached and sort of bored, which is hard to square with their inflammatory rhetoric and they way the approached church members.
They were yelling the most terrible things, but didn't have their heart in it at all. It was all very odd. Honestly, I felt almost sorry for them at times. They seemed to be miserable to be doing what they were doing.
So I'm not sure if the attention they get is good or bad. They seem so detached and disinterested, like they'd rather be any place else. I do think it was good to walk parishioners to their cars. No one deserves to be harassed coming out of church, and standing between them and the parishioners did offer a measure of protection. In that sense alone, it was successful.
Looking back, the part that bothered me the most was that they focused on kids and the elderly, and the fact that they use children in their protests. The kids in their group were every bit as foul-mouthed and nasty as the adults were, and had the same strangely detached demeanor.
I pray for them.