So long, haters!
As someone who grew up in Kansas and was regularly treated to the Westboro Baptist Church protests while I was a student at the University of Kansas, I loathe writing about them or giving any attention to them whatsoever. I eventually learned that giving them the attention only feeds the hateful monster. But, this story is too good not to share.
Landon Patterson is a senior at Oak Park High School in Gladstone, Missouri—a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. Last year Landon came out to classmates and admitted he was transgender. Although Landon had long identified as a gay male, he could no longer ignore the feelings that he was actually living in the wrong body. So, he came out and began to transition. How did Landon's classmates feel? Not only did they accept her, they voted her homecoming queen this year. And that's where the Westboro haters come in. They announced they would show up at the school to protest and probably got a surprise when they arrived—hordes of counter protesters who were determined to drown them out. The counter protesters were a mix of United Church of Christ members, students, parents and LGBT groups.
Although students were told they could not leave school to attend the counter protest, it's pretty clear from the video below that many of them did. And for students who wanted to attend, but followed the school's plea to stay away? In some cases, the parents attended in their place:
Brian Scheetz wouldn't allow his son to skip school for the protest, but he did it on behalf of his family. He was angered that Westboro would target a high school student.
"We want to show that Landon is a part of our community and a big part of the school," Scheetz said. "As a friend of my son's, we're just here to show our support."
In the end, the counter protest group was so large that the Westboro haters wrapped up their protest early and got the hell out of Dodge. Watch as the group followed them to their cars and out of town:
One last note on the Westboro haters—if you see them come to your town, never take the bait and do anything that might cause them to file a lawsuit. The group is comprised of several attorneys and they fund their hateful protests and lifestyle with the money from lawsuits.