WBC

Here in Jacksonville, NC, we recently had a protest event which some of you may know about. While it was briefly on the news, it's important to share what happened here. The Westboro Baptist Church came to protest the US military.

What is most frustrating about groups like this, is that the US military fights every day to uphold the freedoms (specifically their 1st amendment rights) which this group uses to defame and offend. Our US military voluntarily serve this country to protect its citizens. What a great gift to the USA.

Thankfully, the counter protest was 30 times stronger than theirs. The US service member knew that there are a lot more supporters than crazies out there, and that the average citizen supports and appreciates all they do.

Involved in the counter-protest were several pro-military organizations. They were Gathering of Eagles, Rolling Thunder, Patriot Guard Riders, EaglesUp, Military Order of the Purple Heart, MilitaryAppreciationDay.org and Leather Necks MC.

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a fundamentalist religious organization which runs websites such as GodHatesFags.com and GodHatesAmerica.com condemning lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people (LGBT), Roman Catholics, Muslims and Jews, as well as those they believe support the mentioned groups.

The Anti-Defamation League monitors their activity, and they have been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Although well-known in LGBT communities for picketing gay pride events and funerals, the group achieved national notoriety for picketing funeral processions for soldiers killed in action during the Iraq War.

On January 26, 2008 they traveled to here to Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, North Carolina to protest the United States Marine Corps in the wake because of the murder of Maria Lauterbach. A five member group of females protested, stomping on the American Flag and shouting slogans such as "1,2,3,4, God Hates the Marine Corps". A group of over forty counter protesters arrived. Another counter protest was held across town, which attracted approximately 150+ counter protesters.

The WBC began getting notoriety in 1996 when they picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard. Most recently, on March 10, 2006 the WBC picketed the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder. On June 5, 2006 the Snyder family sued the WBC, their leader Fred Phelps, and unnamed others for defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. On 31 October 2007, WBC, Fred Phelps and his two daughters, were found liable for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A federal jury awarded Mr. Snyder $2.9 million in compensatory damages, then later added a decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and an additional $2 million for causing emotional distress (A total of $10,900,000).

Despite this, the WBC continues to protest and says it won't change its message because of the verdict.