Diverse communities unite to protest Westboro Baptist bigots

From April 8 to 11 the bigoted Westboro Baptist Church — infamous for promoting hate speech and fascist propaganda against lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer communities — orchestrated a hate tour in Charleston, W.Va., but were met with strong opposition.

Initially WBC bigots intended on attacking the LGBTQ, Jewish and Catholic communities by picketing synagogues, Catholic institutions and the LGBTQ-friendly district of Charleston, referred to as the East End. But after the coldblooded slaughter of 29 miners at the hands of the Massey Energy bosses, the WBC bigots, in an open display of their fascist, anti-worker orientation, decided to scapegoat the deceased miners.

The WBC immediately posted on their Web site that they were also going to picket the miners’ funerals in Raleigh County with signs that read, “Thank God for Dead Miners.” The last time the WBC bigots picketed in West Virginia was at the funeral of the dozen Sago miners killed during a different mine disaster in another part of the state in January 2006.

On April 8, six WBC members held their first so-called “picket” in the East End and were confronted by a multigenerational and multinational crowd of over 300 counterdemonstrators. The crowd had a strong labor presence, including rank-and-file members and representatives of the state AFL-CIO, the West Virginia Public Workers Union UE Local 170, the Teamsters, the West Virginia Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers-WV.

There were also activists from LGBTQ, pro-choice and environmental groups. The crowd chanted, “Bigots Out of Charleston, We Demand Rights as One!” “Queer, Straight, Black and White, Same Struggle, Same Fight!” and “‘Pro-Life’, That’s a Lie, You Exploit When Miners Die!” The bigots did not stay as long as they had planned. They were surrounded and silenced by a united crowd of working and oppressed people.

The next day, WBC bigots picketed a Catholic high school and a funeral for some of the miners in Raleigh County, an hour south of Charleston. This time they had more police protection and counterprotesters could not get as close to them as they had before, but the stronger police presence did not stop the energy and militancy of the counterprotesters.

On April 10, the WBC spewed anti-Semitic hate outside of two synagogues, holding signs saying “Jews Killed Jesus” as well as “God Hates West Virginia.” The bigots were challenged by a sizeable number of LGBTQ youth and students, and members of the synagogues. Finally, on April 11, the WBC bigots picketed a Catholic church and were confronted by both silent and vocal protesters. While the church leadership encouraged people to hold a silent vigil, many people were too enraged to be silent.

The WBC bigots were confronted everywhere they went. Working and oppressed people of different national and religious backgrounds united around a common, material cause and let the fascists know they were not welcome in their town!

Jeremy Radabaugh is a labor activist in West Virginia.