The third annual Million “Fag” March goes down tomorrow at Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas, near the home of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church (famed keepers of the URL GodHatesFags.com). The March protests the hateful anti-gay protests of the church and features Phelps’ estranged son Nate as the keynote speaker. And that’s great and all. Except for two things. One, the “million” fags will realistically be about 500 people and two, those 500 folks will never be as fun to watch or consistently on message as the WBC.
I’m not sure why the event’s organizers put the word fag in scare quotes. After all, the WBC has been throwing that word in our face for years, so why not own it and throw it right back in their faces? Putting it in quotes says, “No, we’re not the fags they say we are, we’re decent actual people.” And therein lies the problem.
The Westboro Baptist Church isn’t made up of people so much as over-zealous ideologues who gleefully protest military funerals, chanting excitedly in favor of improvised explosive devices that are God’s punishment for American tolerance of homosexuals. They happily count up the days that “AIDS FAGGOT” Matthew Shepard has been burning in hell. Their placards are as easy to read as day-glo signs for a supermarket specials. And on our side? Rainbow-colored signs about love and acceptance. BO-RING.
No matter how you feel about Westboro’s hateful message, at least they understand the theatricality of protest. They took the shock aesthetic of ACT UP and mocked it up in their own way. Just look at CNN’s coverage of last year’s Million “Fag” March and you’ll see the difference. The WBC knows outrageousness gets press, even from gay blogs, and even though they’re known as a fringe organization of crazies, there’s no demonstrators as exciting or controversial on our side. And there should be.
How about we take this to the next level?
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It could be that the LGBT community at large has always been skittish about diving right into religious issues because of those “7 Deadly Verses” which call homosex an abomination. Both the gay Soulforce and the HRC’s Religion Project lean right, and Lambda Legal refuses to jump in the ring to bridge communities of faith and fags, so it’s likely our inexperience makes us unable to meet religious zealots on their own level. But Westboro has a lot to teach us.
Imagine signs like “HELL IS FOR HATE”, “GOD DAMNS THE WBC”, and “PHELPS IS A SPOUSE-ABUSING DRUNK” with Phelps’ head covered in vomit and blood. Imagine shocking pink signs that reference pro-gay bible verses instead of the usual run of gentle signs imploring peace, love, and equality, and you’ll get an idea of what we need.
The WBC is a firestorm and we’ve only brought water guns.
Yuki
Wait, you want us to be the exact same as the WBC, only pro-gay? What? People LAUGH at the WBC.
I like the idea for the signs and stuff, but seriously, “We’re actual decent people” is a BAD thing now?
Glasser
Ditto
doubter
he has an excellent point.
Ken S
At risk of sounding ‘gasp- awful!,’ I’ve got to wonder: if a mob of a hundred pissed-off faggots converged on WBC’s compound with maltov cocktails and lit the place up, burning it to the ground– and frankly I’m kinda surprise/disappointed it hasn’t already happened– who would really feel bad for these repugnant stupid fucks? Your whole country, if not the whole goddamned world, regards them with ridicule and embarrassment if not outright disdain. So whereas they so readily espouse violence and mayhem, why not let them reap what they sow and blow the shit out of the place?
(And if I’m not already on some ECHELON intercepted terrorist watchlist by now, I might not be far off) 😛
B
The word being in quotes was actually my idea. We’re actually quoting the WBC and since not everyone in attendance is a ‘fag’ we thought it best to give it a kind-of sarcastic slant.
Also, our protest is not to piss of the church. It’s simply to show that we can hold our own. We don’t expect them to realize what they’re doing and the founder actually has spoken to the surprisingly normal Shirley Phelps on occasion.
AndrewW
I think GetEqual already owns the rights to any comparisons to the Westboro Baptist Church. We have our own radical clowns.
Chris
The sarcastic slant comment is correct. Also keep in mind it’s not a matter of taking the word back or saying “we’re decent people.” It’s more of a “everyone’s a fag for a day” stance.
If you don’t like the March for what it stands for that’s fine. But at least report that we’ll be accepting donations to charities who represent the groups the WBC protests. It’s a concrete way to fight the Phelps.
Chris
Also, you might actually show up and read the signs people make, not just the two or three on TV.
Soakman
I think you’re giving WBC too much credit. They’re not creative at all. Actually, they’re about as creative as a gossip mag: Every issue is filled with the same bullshit.
But it doesn’t stop WBC from getting attention. It’s because they’re absolutely ridiculous and horrible people. It’s the same effect that causes you to look eagerly out your car window while you’re passing a car crash. Morbid curiosity. They’re effed up in the head. And I would also say spiritually (which in my eyes is pretty hard to do).
I don’t want my fellow queers to be ogled at like a roadside car-crash. I want them to be considered a serious political force with or without appearing threatening. The latter part honestly doesn’t much matter so long as it is clear to people that it’s justified.
But really? You think we have something to learn from WBC? That’s quite sick.
Cody
Your missing the entire point, there is a reason why it is called a peaceful demonstration! we don’t want to send the message that we are just like them when we are so much better! Think about how they have hurt everyone by showing those signs. Its not only the families of those affected but everyone else also. I don’t know about everyone else, but when i see the signs that they hold up it pisses me off. that is not the message we need to send out to the public that is already so timid about us anyways! Yes we need to stand up and fight for our rights, but the way you suggest is all wrong!
angel
From what I have seen , it would be easy to take down this so called ‘church’ but not the way people seem to be thinking , all you would have to do is go to a service they have in their church, let them kick you out, better yet let them have you removed for doing nothing but being there and being gay.
B
No. 5 · B wrote, “The word being in quotes was actually my idea.” … different “B”. If it were up to me, I’d set up a bunch of speakers near Phelps’ compound, hook them up to a single source
via radio, and use delay lines to time it so that the sound from all the speakers constructively interfered right at Fred’s front door (or maybe his bedroom window).
At least, that’s what I’d joke about doing!
Anthony Capo
its not the color of the signs or the theatric, what makes the message of the wbc so powerful is that its THE TRUTH. If you want to compete with them you either have to 1 be extremely vile and filthy, which only proves their point 2 be inaneand absurd which is well, inane and absurd and as you pointed out boring or 3 try telling some truth, like how bout , Im a fag and Im an abomination, or Im ashamed to be Gay, or Im a miserable feces eating fag, NOW that would be something.
biguy
@Anthony Capo: Learn how to write your bigotry a little more sensibly, you stupid fuck.
B
Regarding No 12, I found it somewhat amusing that I got one negative rating (along with a positive rating) for joking about how to make a lot of noise at Fred Phelps’ doorsteps without annoying the neighbors (that’s what the term “constructive interference” suggests).
Read up on phased array antennas if you are unclear on the concept. 🙂