As school let out this afternoon, picketers from Westboro Baptist Church, a scabrously anti-gay group from Topeka, gathered outside Brooklyn Tech to spread the gospel found on their site godhatesfags.com and, according to their schedule (since updated), to “teach the rebels of Brooklyn what good looks like, and you had better behave.”
But outnumbered by nearly 200 Tech students, the Westboro protesters, escorted by police officers, left the corner of Fort Greene Place and Fulton Street at 3:45, 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. (The protest had been slated for 3:20 p.m. to 4 p.m.)
Five members of the group, including one child, brought signs that said “You’re Going to Hell,” danced and shouted anti-gay slogans as they stood on the street corner around 3 p.m. this afternoon.
Brian Benavides, a Brooklyn Tech student, said news of the Westboro protest had been spread among his classmates by word of mouth and through Facebook status. The alert evolved into a counter protest.
Mr. Benavides, who at first stood near the Westboro five, said he was raised Christian and taught that God does not hate homosexuals.
“I think they are completely wrong,” he said of the anti-gay group, before the police asked him to move across the street.
(…)
The Brooklyn Tech group did not see the Westboro protesters disperse because traffic and buses blocked their views. When the buses moved, the students saw the empty corner and erupted in cheers.
“I guess we won the protest, because they left first,” said Julia Aker, a Brooklyn Tech student.
Good for them.
And the kid in the picture above gets the award for best protest sign of the week.
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