so heartwarming!!!!!YAY!!!gosh high school can b difficult,its so nice to see a change for unity somewhere

This is incredibly amazing! The fact that they had so many come out and oppose Phelps is just … i don't think i have a word to describe it.

I remember highschool. I remember the gut twisting fear that I walked around with. I was terrified by my differences. I was terrified by assumptions I made about how my classmates would react to those differences. This story gave me hope that not all of today's gay highschool aged youth are not walking around with those same fears.

@ COMMENT No.2 by TOM
The word is fabulous.

Evangelical Christians aged 16-29 have a markedly different different image of gay people than the older generation.

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage......dateID=280

"Interestingly, the study discovered a new image that has steadily grown in prominence over the last decade. Today, the most common perception is that present-day Christianity is "anti-homosexual." Overall, 91% of young non-Christians and 80% of young churchgoers say this phrase describes Christianity. As the research probed this perception, non-Christians and Christians explained that beyond their recognition that Christians oppose homosexuality, they believe that Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians. One of the most frequent criticisms of young Christians was that they believe the church has made homosexuality a "bigger sin" than anything else. Moreover, they claim that the church has not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their friendships with gays and lesbians. "

This is extremely important in influencing the country. Most Americans want to think of themselves as being young, and this will tend to change their attitudes on policies such as gay marriage.

I find it interesting that one of the signs held by the WBC insinuates that Obama is the antichrist. this proves they know nothing of their own bible which they so vehemently like to quote, because according to it , the antichrist AKA The Beast was already in existence in ancient times. go figure

This makes me smile. :) Oh how I love when Not-so-christian christians get put in their judgemental places.

If you look at the picture with the young man holding the sign that says " I'm Matt Pope & I'm Proud" – that young man was named the schools homecoming king. I thought I recognized his name from previous news items.

That's my high school, holy cow, this is awesome! It used to be extremely homophobic, so it's great to see that things change for the better. Good for them!

Good for them! Awsome work done on the part of the young people!

Ok. Seriously. Seeing stuff like this makes me want to cry. It's very touching and affirming and I love it. Kudos to all those people. I thank them.

Way to go, Kansas high school kids – you set a terrific, courageous and touching example to others. And you look like you're having fun doing it.

That sign Jesus Wouldnt Hate Why Should You! Makes me want to cry it is so great to see people use real christian values (loving your brother as yourself) against these hate mongers who have become the false face of christianity. To all those christians who stand helplessly by while people judge us all by these idiots this was a victory for us too.

People are sick of the homophobes and have starting attacking back! I was on bossip (hip hop gossip) and read a bunch of blacks attack a poster who made homophobic comments. You have to scan down a little to the first response but once they get going the comments made my heart smile. We are not alone in this and people are starting to shame and attack the homophobes. You have to scan down a little but read the thread it is a good reminder that we have more support than we know.

http://bossip.com/81224/nice-shirt/#comments

Oh my gosh, it's amazing to hear you guys say these words of encouragement. I'm a Gay-Straight Allaince Officer at another school in the same district (West), and that protest was one of the greatest moments of my live. It's so amazing that people are reading about this in more places than just Kansas. I don't think the Phelps knew what was coming, we had 1500 people there at one point. We also had people pledging money to AIDS research for every minute that the Phelps stood across the street. I think the final amount was 13,500 dollars if everyone stuck to their pledges. Matt Pope was the homecoming king at East in Fall 2007, and he's an amazing guy. He found out about the protest on Wednesday and drove overnight from the U of Oklahoma so he could be there. I wish all of you could've been there too!

I live in KC MO and it is SO NICE to see young people standing up for their fellow students.

I wonder how many students came out after this, being able to see the support of their peers.

Hahaha I hope they tied Phelps to a wheelchair and pushed him into the interstate!

Fred Phelps is Coming to Albany, NY on March 6th to Picket Albany High and SUNY. There's a townhall meeting tonight at the UCC Church in Albany (on Quail Street) at 7 to plan response strategy.

Hopefully we can plan a great response to Mr. Phelps hate.

is there a naked kid in that first picture just to the right hand side?

@iggy:

He's probably wearing a pair of shorts but covered by the sign the person to his right is holding.