Counter-protest Organizer Says WBC May Back Down

What made you decide to stage this counter protest? Friends and family should have to look at that kind of hate on one of the worst days of their lives. It doesn't matter if you're a dove or hawk, what your religion is, or where your politics lie - everyone knows the WBC is hate, extremism, and insanity all rolled into one nasty cult. One of the first high-profile funerals they picketed was Matthew Shepard's back in the 90s; it shocked a lot of people and they fed off that, and started picketing the funerals of soldiers because it's so controversial. 

And so people started developing ways of countering that without being hateful back - by constructing giant angel wings, or holding American flags, peace flags, or anything blocks the sight of the WBC from the funeral goers. And the Patriot Guard, which has chapters all over the country and was invited by the Gutowskis, has been an instrumental part of the shield - they come on their motorcycles with the flags, and use their engines to drown out the WBC's chants.

For me it's just a matter of taste and standing up for other human beings. If they were picketing the funeral of a guy who died delivering pizza, I would hope just as many people would show up and support the family in the face of that hatred.

How did you learn about Westboro Baptist Church's plans to be in Plymouth?I'd been following Occupy Boston on Twitter and had the idea that there had to be lots of people in the suburbs who were sympathetic but couldn't be there, at least not 24/7. My boyfriend John owns The Metacomet bookstore downtown; he packed up our truck with books to make a little library in the encampment and I figured I could use social media to rustle up more donations of supplies. 

I wanted to use the hashtag #plymouthma for networking, and just searched to see if anyone else was talking about it.. the only tweet that came up was by the WBC saying they were coming here to protest. Strange how one protest leads to another.

Do you have any relationship with the Gutowski family or with Steven? None, other than being fellow humans.

Where are you and the other organizers from? Are you from Plymouth? I really want to point out that I'm not really in charge and I'm not really an organizer in any official sense. I saw the tweet and made the Facebook page with what I felt was a succinct amount of information... who the WBC are, and how to counteract their message while being non-violent and respectful to the family. It was an under 10 minute process, which is a testament to how powerful social media is as a tool for organizing and creating change.

John and I grew up here but moved away as young adults and have lived all over the country.

Hundreds of people are saying on Facebook that they want to attend the protest, but how many do you expect? Have you done anything like this before? I don't know how many are actually going to show up. Honestly, what is more likely is that the WBC is going to back down. When I was out in Oregon they made a lot of talk about coming to the funeral of a soldier in a suburb of Portland. Hundreds voiced support for the family on the internet and the WBC just never showed.. same happened in El Paso recently, too. They're cowards. They've already taken the funeral off their "tour list" on their site, although the press release file is still up. 

The best outcome we can hope for is that they don't show, period, and the family will get to see the town supporting them.