The city of Long Beach showed Westboro Baptist Church members this weekend that they are not in Kansas anymore.
Seven members from the controversial church attracted hundreds of protestors outside of Wilson Classical High School and the Alpert Jewish Community Center on Friday afternoon.
The WBC is an independent Baptist church founded by former civil rights lawyer Fred Phelps. The Topeka, Kan., church is known for its protests against gays, gay supporters and the funerals of U.S. soldiers.
“I’ve paid attention to the Phelps group, but I can’t believe they showed up in Long Beach,” said Cerritos resident Steve Reeder, who showed up with his trombone to disrupt the event. “It’s such a weird thing to see them this close to home. I’m from Kansas, and they’re making me look bad.”
The church traveled to Long Beach to “warn the youth that they have been lied to their entire lives,” according to church member Sarah Phelps.
She, along with fellow members of the WBC, brought signs and speech to the protest in hopes of expressing her viewpoints.
“We’re out here in Long Beach to tell these children that their parents and teachers hate them,” said member Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Fred Phelps. “They’ve been raised from the crib up that it’s OK to be gay and that God will love you not matter what vile sin you do and don’t repent of.”
Wilson High School
Church members gathered across the street from Wilson High School on Ximeno Avenue and 10th Street, holding signs with anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-American slogans. They wore shirts that said “God hates America” and “Jews killed Jesus.” The members also wore American flags as belts so that the flags scraped against the ground as they walked.
“This is our duty,” Phelps-Rorper said of their visit. “Definition of ‘loving your neighbor’ is rebuking them. City of Long Beach has declared war on God because the people refuse to obey God.”
Many locals, including Long Beach Unified School District spokesman Chris Eftychiou, were confused as to why the church came to the high school.
“This school is a place of learning, an antidote to ignorance, prejudice and fear,” Eftychiou said, “and the church members might have a problem with that message.”
Geoff Maddox, founder of Hate Crime Awareness, Long Beach, helped organize the protests against the church through Facebook. Maddox said he expected a couple hundred people to come.
“Easily a thousand people are here. This was a great turnout,” Maddox said. “We showed these haters we are not going to tolerate their ignorance.”
Protestors held signs that said “Co-exist” and “Hate is not welcomed in our school.” Some waved rainbow and Israeli flags in the air.
Sara Phelps was happy with the massive number of protestors.
“This is perfect. This is the will of God, and all these people know God hates them,” Phelps said. “You don’t fear men — you fear God. Humans can’t control your soul.”
Hundreds of protestors started to swarm the seven church members, who remained calm, laughing and smiling.
Maddox tried to get the crowd to stop.
“You are just fueling their hate,” Maddox told them.
Some Cal State Long Beach students went to the protests to let their voices be heard.
Devin Benavidez, a senior political science major, was disappointed that the church was targeting his old school.
“Them coming to Wilson is wrong,” Benavidez said. “They are targeting an impressionable age group.”
Tanya Aubin, a junior international studies major, said she was disappointed in the crowd of protestors since so many were angry, and some carried signs that read, “God Hates Westboro Baptist Church.”
“Hating these people would be sticking down to their level,” Aubin said. “As a Christian I don’t believe in hate, period.”
Benavidez said he was proud of his former high school and how the students and school officials dealt with the church members.
“We’re hear to stand in solidarity with [Wilson High School],” said Doug Kauffman, Party for Socialism and Liberation organizer and CSULB senior English major. “We’re here to fight against racism and anti-Semitism. We want to let these bigots know that they’re not welcome in the city of Long Beach.”
School officials lined up in the background, watching their students peacefully resist the church group. The crowd became so large at one point that Long Beach police had to cordon off part of 10th Street.
A day prior to the protest, Long Beach City Council members Robert Garcia and Gerrie Schipske issued a joint statement in opposition to the church. Both Garcia and Schipske are gay.
The statement said: “We stand in strong support of the peaceful demonstrations against the Westboro Baptist Church. The anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-American views of this organization are in stark contrast to the diversity and strength of our city. We will be joining our fellow citizens in a peaceful counter-protest at Wilson High School on Friday.”
Jewlicious Festival
Church members also gathered at the corner of Redondo Avenue and Willow Street to demonstrate last Friday during the Jewlicious Festival.
“In the name of unity, these Jews are sacrificing the standards of God,” said church member Megan Phelps-Roper. “[Jews] don’t want to obey the word of God. They pretend to eat kosher, they push abortion and the wrath of God descends on them. Madoff, the war with Gaza, it goes on.”
According to the Alpert Jewish Community Center Web site, the festival is the largest weekend Jewish gathering in America.
“The youth have been taught that it’s OK to fornicate your brains out at the age of 14 and then, when you get pregnant, it’s OK to kill that baby,” said church member Sarah Phelps. “You’ve got these rebellious teenagers out here that have been taught by simple sluts to be simple sluts.”
Counter-protests were also planned by various student bodies and independent citizens.
“I’m all for people having their own beliefs and their own point of view, but I have a problem with people trying to spread hate and lies,” said Andrew Hogan, a CSULB environmental science and political science major.
Hogan, along with music major Bryan Montalvo, attended the protest at Redondo Avenue and Willow Street to voice their point of view.
“Being a homosexual, in general, is hard for people in the United States,” Montalvo said. “People get put down so much. It’s so hard to get them back up, especially when other people are still trying to put them down.”
The two made their signs with markers on top of their car trunks in the parking lot adjacent to the intersection. One sign said, “Gay sex is happy sex.”
More than 150 counter-protestors greeted the church members.
“I have friends and family who are gay,” said Milton Torres, a CSULB freshman sociology major. “I’m doing this for them, to send a message that people here are free. They picked their battlefield, and we are here to meet them.”
Responses from the community center showed little interest in the church group.
“We recommend that our community not come out. Obviously their rhetoric toward the Jewish community is extremely hateful,” said Deborah Goldfarb, the executive director of the Jewish Federation for Long Beach and west Orange County.
Protestors from both sides began to meld together, arguing among each other as they tried to grab the attention of passersby. Many of their signs were attempts to counter one another, such as how the sign “God hates figs” was made by supporters of homosexuality to counteract the church’s “God hates fags” sign.
Church member Rebecca Phelps said that teenagers “at this hour have no control” and are at “full-on rebellion against their God, doing whatever they please, satisfying the lust of the flesh” instead of honoring God’s will.
“We say, ‘No, don’t do that. It’s carnally minded and at enmity with God,’ ” she said. “It’s the exact opposite of wha
t Jesus Christ, your God and savior, said what life you ought to lead.”
Other protests
The church Web site, www.godhatesfags.com, claims that its members have staged more than 40,000 protests to date.
According to the church’s schedule, it also planned to visit the following over the weekend: the Martin Lawrence performance and Ragga Muffins Festival at the Long Beach Convention Center, Temple Israel, Alpert Jewish Community Center and the Cornerstone Church.
Michael Veremans, a graduate cultural studies major and one of the creators of the “Not in my town” counter-protest, said that the WBC did not show up to the Long Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday night even though it was one of their last planned protests.
“They didn’t show up probably because they were tired and intimidated,” Veremans said. “There were a maximum of 500 people out there.”
Veremans said he was proud of the community, which was rallying for gay rights for people all over the world.
“We stayed out until about 8:30 or even later,” he said. “This isn’t only about the WBC — we don’t give a fuck about them. What we care about is gay rights, equality and free love.”