Project12 Continues to Track, Target “God Hates Fags” / Westboro Group

Last Thursday, a van load of us Project12ers went downtown to protest a group called “God Hates Fags.” The latter, however, didn’t show as they’d said they would (though did show up elsewhere later in the day after we’d gone home).

Today, I couldn’t get our Project 12 students sprung from their job and class responsibilities to go downtown with me. The G. H. F. people again had promised to show up, this time to picket President-Elect Barack Obama, who they (so predictably) say is the Antichrist.

And they were there this time as advertised.

“God Hates Fags”… and Barack Obama. Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church
displays their signs on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wabash, Dec. 8, 2008.
[Photo: Jon Trott]

I took up a spot across the street from them, not wanting anyone to think I was part of their group. My own signs read “Gays are Our Neighbors” and “Jesus’ Answer to Hate was the Cross.” Holding both signs was awkward, and it was quite cold, but since Monday had also prevented anyone else from showing up in opposition to Westboro, I stayed until they left around an hour after it began.

Chicago’s well-known gay newspaper, Windy City Times, did cover the event (the reporter is an old friend from days when she was part of Queer to the Left and we worked on homelessness and poverty issues). A van pulled up, a guy jumped out and… well, let’s say what he did with a water bottle mimicked one of Westboro’s signs. A few minutes later, that van pulled up to me and I noted they were filming. Those inside told me they were doing footage for Showtime, asked me for a waiver (which I gave), and then drove off.

I handed out fliers to a few passers-by, mostly those who saw I was in opposition to Westboro and stopped to thank me. (The flier’s contents I’ve posted in my Dec. 4 bit on Westboro.)

We hope to be present when Westboro shows up again in Chicago, perhaps this Saturday. By the way, Westboro… God LOVES you. Just thought you should know.