Personal Encounter

Photos I took of the counter-protest:

There is only so much one can learn when researching a group of people indirectly. Bias is a constant issue: the media depicts Westboro in the same way, and there is only so much one can obtain from reading online articles or research papers. In anthropology, in order to achieve a more in depth understanding of a subject, one has become immersed within the group through participant observation.  Rebecca Barrett did this with the Westboro Baptist Church members, and subsequently gained a different perspective than most people have of Westboro. She explains that the “Westboro Baptists have nothing against you personally.” Everyone is “equally hell-bound” for supporting a “fag nation” (2011:15).  Authors Daniel Brouwer, and Aaron Hess also come to a similar interpretation of Westboro – in regards to their pickets of funerals, “the soldier him- or herself is constructed as an extension of the military, which carries the symbolic power of the nation… WBC protests become symbolic attacks on the United States as a nation, not on individual solders” (2007:79). Again, it is not that Westboro doesn’t like the individual, but rather the nation as a whole.

Barrett witnessed interactions between Westboro Baptists and an openly gay journalist who was interviewing the group. To her surprise, she observed that the “church members were consistently polite to him, never using the language they use on the picket line to describe other gay men…  They were considerate of his needs and encouraging of his questions” (2011:15). She herself was only chastised once for not being aware that the Bible says women should not cut their hair. Barrett’s experience with Westboro is one that is not depicted in media; her observations give the anti-gay group human and civil qualities.

My own personal experience with Westboro is very limited. Before November 2010, my knowledge of Westboro was non-existent. I then heard that an anti-gay group was coming to my city to protest the production of “The Laramie Project”. Coming from a society with liberal values in comparison to the group, the Westboro Baptist’s were both abhorrent and intriguing. Who, and why would someone want to protest against something so sensitive and personal? I decided to attend the “God Loves Fags” counter protest that was organized. However unlike Barrett, I did not observe the protest through an anthropological perspective – by remaining an outside, objective observer – but rather was caught up in the whirlwind of intense emotions. My perceptions of the Westboro were obscured by negative depictions from the media.

"You're not in Kansas Anymore" Sign

From what I witnessed - despite the Westboro not showing up - supporters of the counter protest still attended and collectively created a peaceful, humorous environment, and a common area where people –no matter what their sexual orientation –were accepted.  Despite the welcoming environment, there was an underlying feeling of strong hatred towards the Baptists amongst the attendees. This was understandable, as it was the collective strong opposition to the Westboro that drove them to participate in the counter-protest in the first place.  To many, the Westboro were violating their values of acceptance of the LGBT community. Many comments overheard expressed hatred towards the Westboro group.

By gathering and discussing and inflaming hatred, are the counter-protesters allowing themselves to be part of the hate cycle Westboro creates? Despite the Westboro being explicitly anti-gay, does it do good to draw further attention to the group by attending protests? Do counter protests further help them to achieve their goals? This is a paradox that those in support of the gay community face. At the same time, something that the Westboro Baptist’s probably unintentionally do is mobilize the pro-gay community into action.  They inadvertently create environments - such as the counter-protest I attended – that exhibits public displays of acceptance and love for the gay community. Because of this, it is not entirely counter-productive to counter-protest the Westboro’s pickets. 

 
  

Works Cited:

Fox, Rebecca Barrett

  2011 Anger and Compassion on the picket 
      Line: Ethnography and emotion in the 
      Study of Westboro Baptist Church. Journal 
      of Hate Studies 9(1):11-32.

Brouwer, Daniel C, and Aaron Hess

   2007   Making Sense of ‘God Hates Fags’ and ‘Thank God for 9/11’: A Thematic Analysis of 
       Milbloggers’ Responses to Reverend Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. Western 
       Journal of Communication 71(1):69-90.