Anti-LGBT tour drowned out

A wide range of progressive forces and community members soundly defeated “the Rev.” Fred Phelps’ Massachusetts recruiting efforts June 4-6.

Phelps, known for leading a vile anti-gay protest at Matthew Shepard’s funeral, didn’t attend any of the events in Massachusetts. Instead his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper led the tour.

The bigots targeted religious institutions and individual schools in Dracut, Lexington and Bedford. But they were met with rejection by most students, teachers and community members.

Phelps said he chose Massachusetts for a recruiting tour because of its recent legalization of same-sex marriage and other pro-lesbian/gay/bi/trans laws. The Phelps tour was made easier by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s ongoing denunciations of same-sex marriage and his other attacks on the LGBT communities.

In Brookline the bigots targeted the high school graduation ceremony because of the school’s popular and well-known Gay Straight Alliance. They were met with a militant, angry counter-demonstration that drowned them out.

As soon as the counter-demonstrators spotted the bigots being escorted to a “free-speech” area by the police, they started chanted: “Bigotry—shut it down. Fred Phelps out of our town.” Other chants included: “Gay, straight, Black and white, all unite to fight the right” and “Brookline High under attack—what do we do? Act up! Fight back!”

Knowing the Phelps group brings racist and anti-gay signs to its events, a group of high school students had prepared a beautiful hand-made multi-colored banner. They hoisted it in front of the “free-speech” area so graduates and their loved ones wouldnhave to look at the Phelps group’s signs. It read: “Congrats ’05: All forms of love are beautiful. All forms of hate are ugly.”

Counter-demonstrators holding other banners and placards surrounded the Phelps group. Only the exit/entrance to the “free-speech” area was left open—guarded by police.

Many graduates and their loved ones thanked the counter-demonstrators or joined in the anti-Phelps protest.

After about 45 minutes the Phelps group packed up and scurried to vehicles, escorted by Brookline police—and trailed by dozens of protesters chanting, “Bigots go home.”

A few Neo-Nazis had come to support the Phelps group—but the progressive forces also ran them out of the area.

Many local youths and students participated in the anti-Phelps Brookline protest. So did members of the AFL-CIO Pride at Work, Anarchist Black Cross, Workers World Party, the Communist Party USA, the International Action Center, the International Socialist Organization, Fight Imperialism Stand Together, Service Employees Local 509, Stonewall Warriors, UNITE HERE Local 26, Steel Workers Local 8751 and the Women’s Fightback Network.