Leave us alone, Westboro Baptists
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is coming to town. The easiest way to summarize the WBC is simply by attempting to visit their website under the CVUSD firewall. Type in “Westboro Baptist Church” and click the first link you see — the organization’s official homepage. The site, which you will notice has the url “godhatesfags.com,” is blocked by the district for obscenely violent content.
The group sent out a news release on Feb. 4, reading, “With praise and Thanksgiving on our lips, the followers of the one true Christ will preach his word and message of repentance to the students and faculty of Thousand Oaks High School after the mass shooting in November.” This was followed by another message, that read “God sent the shooter.”
This is a group that will be preaching to a group of students and teachers outside of Thousand Oaks High School, many of whom have ties to people involved in the Borderline shooting. This is a group that travels around with signs that say “God hates […]” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” It is the epitome of hate speech; the kind of hate speech that makes us question whether the first amendment should have limitations.
Be mindful of the people in your community. Be aware that in Thousand Oaks on Feb. 11, one of the most homophobic and anti-semitic extremist groups will be exercising its right to free speech, to teachers and students of the CVUSD. Be aware that this is a group that compares homosexuals to Nazis, and that has been cited for relentlessly harassing gay and lesbian store employees. Be aware that in their promotional flyer for their event at TOHS reads, “The wildfires that ravaged Thousand Oaks in November, as well as the shooter that same month, are manifestations of God’s wrath against this evil place.”
Forget personal political affiliation or religious ties or any other societal aspect that we constantly find dividing our community, pitting one side against another. When a group like the WBC drops in on a wounded community to incite conflict and to spread pure, unadulterated hatred, we are reminded that truly horrible people aren’t those who supported a different candidate in the 2016 election or who stand for different local school board policies. We are allies who elevate each other and our communities, and we need to recognize who is the true evil.
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