The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, headed by Fred Phelps, gained notoriety for staging protests targeting such solemn occasions as the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. They hold signs saying, "God hates fags" and "God hates America."
The protesters claim that tragedies and deaths can be blamed on homosexuality.
They're crazy. That's a given. Beyond their outrageous views, it's positively despicable that they show such disrespect while people are grieving.
On Thursday, the nuts planned to protest at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The previous weekend, three students died in a house fire.
MENOMONIE, Wis. -- Hundreds of people at the University of Wisconsin-Stout staged a counter-protest against members of a Kansas church who demonstrated on campus after three students were killed in a house fire.
Several people from Westboro Baptist Church picketed at the Menomonie campus, stating the three students "died for Wisconsin and Minnesota's sins."
Church members held signs saying "God's Wrath is Revealed" and "America is Doomed."
Nearly 1,000 students demonstrated against the church members Thursday outside the Memorial Student Center.
Students carried signs saying "God Hates No One," and "Hate is Sin in God's Eyes."
Although some of the students protesting the protesters can be heard using vulgar language, they did the right thing.
They sent the group fleeing from the campus only 15 minutes into their scheduled protest. They could have stayed, but apparently they weren't comfortable being challenged by throngs of people.
The students united in the counter-protest appropriately exercised their right to free speech. Free speech is best answered with more free speech.
It's a two-way street.
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