Anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church Plans Virginia Protests

As the Richmond Times Dispatch is reporting, the professional haters at Westboro Baptish Church are bringing their foul stench to Virginia and plan on protests in both Richmond and the Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Portsmouth area. Counter protests are being organized by several groups with Facebook pages here and here. I hope locals will get out and demonstrate that haters such as these folks are not welcome in Virginia notwithstanding the Christianist that currently hold the offices of Governor and Attorney General. A list of locations where the hate group plans to protest and the proposed counter demonstrations is as follows:
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3/1/10- Norfolk
2:00-2:30pm Granby High School
2:45-3:15pm Bina High School (requests no counter-presence)
3:20-3:50pm Ohef Shalom Temple (requests no counter-presence)
4:10-4:40pm Norfolk Naval Station
5:00-5:30pm Temple Israel (requests no engagement with or acknowledgement of WBC)
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3/2/10- Virginia Beach
6:55-7:25am Landstown High School (administration requests no counter-presence)
8:00-8:30am Simon Family Jewish Community Center (the JCC has requested that there be no counter-presence)
9:00-9:30am Virginia Beach Convention Center
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3/2/10- Richmond
11:00-12:15pm Virginia Holocaust Museum (silent interfaith counter-presence organized by VA Holocaust Museum and members of the local faith community)
12:40-1:10pm The Jerusalem Connection
1:30-2:00pm UofR Hillel at the Jewish Community Center (the JCC does not want counter-protesters)
3:40-4:10pm Hermitage High School
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3/3/10- Portsmouth
6:50-7:20am Churchland High School
8:45-9:15am Torah Day School (requests no counter-presence)
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3/3/10- Virginia Beach
11:30-12:30pm Virginia Beach Convention Center
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3/3/10- Norfolk
2:00-2:30pm Norview High School

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Besides the anti-gay agenda of this despicable group, it is noteworthy that these bigots are also targeting Jewish institutions. These people are truly sick and demonstrate the nastiness of Christianism taken to extremes. Westboro puts out in the open what all too many of the Christianist believe but try to hide from the public. Here are highlights from the Times Dispatch:

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An anti-gay church says it will demonstrate in Richmond on Tuesday, and local community groups say they plan counterdemonstrations. Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kan., has announced on its Web site a number of sites throughout Virginia that it plans to picket, including four in the Richmond region. Among other things, the church makes anti-Semitic comments about Jewish students and pickets funerals of American soldiers, claiming God has killed them for defending a nation of "sodomite hypocrites."
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Westboro "has a national reputation for promoting hate under the guise of being a functioning Christian church," said Simon Sibelman, assistant executive director of the Virginia Holocaust Museum. He said that representatives of the museum and the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, and others, will stand outside the museum at 2000 E. Cary St. on Tuesday at 11:45 a.m., when the Westboro Baptist Church says it will picket. About 300 people are expected so far, he said; a Westboro spokeswoman said fewer than 10 of their members will be in Richmond.
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Sibelman said, "There are people of conscience, of faith, saying, 'We will not tolerate this,' even to a handful of them." Jonathan C. Zur, president and CEO of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, said several student groups at Virginia Commonwealth University are coordinating a 1:30 p.m. rally at the VCU University Student Commons outdoor plaza. "We want to give Richmonders a forum where they can affirm values of respect rather than focus on negativity," said Zur, one of the administrators of the Facebook page created for the rally.
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Mychael Dickerson, spokesman for Henrico County Public Schools, said county police will have extra presence Tuesday at Hermitage High.

List of Businesses That Supported Proposition 8

No doubt the Christianists and anti-gay Mormons will cry foul - only they have the right to discriminate after all in their view - but HRC has assembled a list of companies and businesses that supported proposition 8. As I have said many times before, the members of the LGBT community need to be much more militant about not spending any of our money with anti-gay businesses or business controlled by anti-gay individuals. The list is alphabetical and includes dentists, nurseries, landscaping companies and other service providers. The list (which can be found here) was compiled from data provided by the California Secretary of State’s Office and contains donations to major “Yes on Proposition 8” groups that derive from corporate bank accounts. This list does not include CEO’s or senior executives of organizations that may have contributed, but did not do so from an identifiable corporate account.

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Additional information on Yes on 8 donors can be found at the Californians Against Hate site here and from the California Secretary of State's office here and here and here. If you find someone on the list whose services you or your business has been been using and you decide to change providers, make sure to tell the prior provider w

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hy you are taking your business elsewhere. Only by making it clear that their bigotry is costing them financially will many of these folks refrain from future anti-gay contributions.

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Our activities are being noticed as one Time magazine story reports. Here are some highlights:

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In addition to protests, gay activists have begun publishing lists online exposing individuals and organizations who have donated money in support of Proposition 8. On AntiGayBlacklist.com, individuals who gave money toward Proposition 8 are publicized, with readers urged not to patronize their businesses or services. The list of donors was culled from data on ElectionTrack.com, which follows all contributions of over $1,000 and all contributions of over $100 given before October 17.

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Dentists, accountants, veterinarians and the like who gave a few thousand dollars to the cause are listed alongside major donors like the Container Supply Co., Inc. of Garden Grove, Calif., which gave $250,000. "Anyone who steps into a political fight aimed at taking away fundamental rights from fellow citizens opens themselves up to criticism," said Wolfson. "The First Amendment gives them the right of freedom of speech and to support political views, but people also have the right to criticize them."

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The negative publicity is having effects on both companies and individuals. Scott Eckern, artistic director of the California Musical Theatre in Sacramento, whose $1,000 donation was listed on ElectionTrack, chose to resign from his post this week to protect the theater from public criticism. Karger says a "soft boycott" they started against Bolthouse Farms, which gave $100,000 to Proposition 8, was dropped after he reached a settlement with the company. Bolthouse Farms was to give an equal amount of money to gay political causes. The amount ultimately equaled $110,000.

Seven protesters arrested at Blackwater's headquarters

Today's Virginian Pilot has a story (http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=135122&ran=149404&tref=po) about a protest effort at Blackwater USA's headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina, roughly 25 miles as the bird flies from Norfolk. Here are some highlights:

Seven people were arrested Saturday at Blackwater Worldwide’s front entrance after protesters re-enacted the Sept. 16 shooting incident in Baghdad involving Blackwater contractors in which 17 Iraqis died. The protesters drove a small gray station wagon, covered with simulated bullet holes and smeared with red paint, onto Blackwater’s property. One lay back in the driver’s seat and five others got out and lay on the ground, as if they had been shot.

The scene was intended to mimic that in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, where an Iraqi doctor and her son died in a fusillade of gunfire as their car approached a Blackwater diplomatic convoy. The protesters also smeared red handprints on two Blackwater signs. Currituck County sheriff’s deputies, called to the scene by Blackwater guards, told the protesters they were on private property and asked them to leave. When they didn’t respond, they were handcuffed and placed in a sheriff’s van. Some went limp and had to be dragged.

A crowd of about 50 more protesters who had gathered along the adjacent public road cheered as the seven were driven away. The group carried signs with slogans such as “Bring Blackwater to Justice,” “Security Contractors are Unlawful Combatants” and “Blackwater: Shoot First, Ask No Questions.”

The protest was organized by the Norfolk Catholic Worker and Blackwater Watch, an activist group based in Durham, N.C. Christian Stalberg, a spokesman for Blackwater Watch, said the group’s aim is to “shut down Blackwater.” “It’s an unmitigated disaster,” he said. “They’re irresponsible and totally unaccountable.”

Fortunately, many of those leaving comments on the story are not knee jerk, shoot them and ask questions later knuckle draggers.