Vassar takes on the bigots

ON FEBRUARY 28, the Westboro Baptist Church--the fundamentalist hate group known for targeting the funerals of dead soldiers, among others, with signs reading "God hates fags"--picketed Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. But students and the community didn't let the bigots go unopposed.

Calling Vassar an "Ivy League whorehouse," the Westboro fanatics claimed they wanted to "warn the students, faculty and alumni that the satanic policies of this nation, especially those of the colleges and universities, are causing God to pour His wrath out upon this nation."

The Vassar community, known for its diversity, tolerance and active LGBTQ student population, immediately began organizing to counter the bigots as soon as they announced they were planning to picket the school. As part of a fundraising page set up by Vassar alum Josh De Leeuw, students and alumni pledged to raise $100 for every minute Westboro protested at the campus.

Their efforts far surpassed even that, however. In all, they raised more than $100,000--with the money to be donated to the Trevor Project, an organization that provides assistance to LGBTQ people in crisis.

And on the day four members of the Westboro church came to campus, they were met with over 1,000 students, faculty and community members who held their own counterprotest featuring songs and speeches. Pastor Joseph Tolton delivered the keynote address for the counterprotesters with a passion that was only matched by the crowd. "Your sexuality and gender identification are not burdens, they are blessings," he said.

The counterprotesters went to the location where the four Westboro members were stationed. They held their own signs and chanted and sang songs to drown out Westboro's hate. The counterprotesters then marched back to their main campus building holding hands.

As the Vassar community show, Westboro's hate has to be challenged everywhere they show up.