Southern club members join gay rally
Area residents and members of campus organization B-GLAAD gathered outside Webb City High School Nov. 29 to protest the anti-gay message brought by Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka members under the direction of the Rev. Fred Phelps.
On Nov. 29, a handful of people gathered outside Webb City High School to protest Brad Matthewson, a 16-year-old student recently banned from the school by school administration for wearing gay pride T-shirts.
The protesters are members of a Topeka church, Westboro Baptist Church, led by pastor Fred Phelps.
Phelps and his followers have held an estimated 20,000 plus similar protests throughout the nation.
The protesters wave signs displaying messages of hate such as “God hates fags,” “AIDS cures fags,” “thank God for AIDS” and “fags burn in hell.”
These protesters were soon outnumbered by a group of about 50 counter-protesters including five members of B-GLAAD, a Southern group that supports freedom of choice for sexual orientation, students from Webb City and Joplin High Schools and members of the United Family Fellowship Church of Christ.
This group joined together in support of Matthewson, who recently filed suit against Webb City High School, and in protest against the WBC and its message.
“There was a lot of chanting of, ‘Hey-hey ho-ho homophobia has to go’ and ‘Go home to Topeka.” said Jason Hare, junior Spanish major and B-GLAAD president.
Hare came to Southern after being expelled from Ozark Christian College for being gay.
Hare started B-GLAAD in 2001 and, after a small dwindling, reinstated its existence in 2003.
The group provides support for student with alternate lifestyles and seeks to give students an avenue for discussion of relevant topics pertaining to homosexuals in our culture.
“I feel that it is important that people not feel alone; that is what we try to provide through our organization,” Hare said.
“Our protest was, of course, in support of Brad; to let him know that there are people here that are in support of what he is doing. On a wider scale we were protesting against Phelps.
We cannot let our community think that we allow that kind of hatred here.”
There has been some controversy over the fact the group from WBC had a six-year-old girl in their midst holding a “God hates fags” sign.
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