They came to picket “godless” companies like Harper’s, The Huffington Post and Gawker. But instead, the Westboro Baptist Church made themselves look like fools.
Four members of the group began their “God Hates The Media Tour” outside the offices of Harper’s, holding signs like “Joan In Hell” and “Thank God 4 9/11.” The magazine staff offered a running commentary on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/cwhe/status/509764530868867074
Quelle anticlimax! All that buildup and we get four haters. There were three drag queens for every one of them. pic.twitter.com/KNYSmDz3cg
— Harper's Magazine (@Harpers) September 10, 2014
The quartet next made their way to The Huffington Post, where they were met by a group of staffers having an “equality party.” Baked by Melissa donated 1,000 rainbow cupcakes for the event and the sweet treats were distributed to spectators. HuffPost staff held up signs reading “God Loves Cupcakes.” Some dressed up at yetis and penguins for the occasion, while drag queens also joined in the fun.
We're ready for Westboro to come protest in front of our office at 1:30 today#GodLovesCupcakes pic.twitter.com/8B1ExBG3DP
— Curtis M. Wong (@CurtisMWong) September 10, 2014
Sooo the Westboro Baptist Church is protesting HuffPost right now & we decided to throw an equality party pic.twitter.com/M0CjfB79GB
— Carly Schwartz (@carlicita) September 10, 2014
https://twitter.com/katienelson/status/509758074635452416
Staff threw the celebration to show that all parts of Huffington Post–not just Gay Voices, but the entire community, including the Religion section–would not stand for Westboro’s message.
“We’re not afraid, we’re not intimidated and we don’t approve of them,” HuffPost Gay Voices editor Noah Michelson told the Observer. “It was an incredible protest on our own turf.”
Westboro’s final stop of the day was the Gawker headquarters. The church said that the company’s blogs are “full of mocking, irreverent, vulgar, base, worthless bilge.”
Joel Johnson, the editorial director of Gawker, said the staff should respond to the protest “with the may-careness and loving kindness that both the devil and Christ would ask of us.”
Gawker staffer Maud Deitch posted on Instagram that “There were 3x as many counter protestors as WBC people.”
Westboro will conclude its New York tour tomorrow at the September 11 Memorial & Museum. What could possibly go wrong?
