1:35pm | A circus is coming to town. Not the good kind. No, I’m talking about a sort of DIY tour that’s being put on by the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). Never heard of them? Maybe you recognize them by their self-styled sobriquet: the “God hates fags” folks. These are the charming men and women—and, alas, their children—who, for starters, go to military funerals so as to disrupt them by screaming that the United States deserves these casualties—and 9/11, and so much more—because of (among a litany of other sins) being overly permissive toward same-sex couples¹.
   
The powers-that-be here at staging-live.lbpost.com understandably don’t like bigoted slurs like the F-word above, and so even more understandably they aren’t comfortable with such an epithet appearing here (and it will not be used again in this piece). But I think there are occasions when it is important to shine a light on exactly what people say, to provide an unobscured view. I am immodest enough to believe that I have some degree of eloquence, or at the very least a certain degree of technical proficiency with the written word; and yet, nothing I might write could give you a better immediate sense of whom and what we’re talking about than letting the WBC introduce themselves in their own disgusting terms.
   
I first heard of the WBC via Howard Stern. Those familiar with Stern’s show only through hearsay might very well think it’s all prurience and scatology (while in fact those are minor and the least interesting/entertaining aspects) and that Stern would only have WBC members on for the sensationalistic value of doing so. But while the man certainly does appreciate spectacle, he has been very clear about an entirely separate motivation for giving them exposure even while he himself is a staunch advocate of gay marriage, etc.: People like this are their own worst advertisement. Let them talk, and they sound so ridiculous and despicable that they will alienate far more people than they will attract. It’s a perfectly logical tactic to use against them.
   
Yet another logical tactic—and a reaction that is probably the most natural for the majority of us—is to confront hatemongers like this in one way or another, such as in the form of a counter-protest. You don’t have to want to infringe on their right to freely spew their vitriolic claptrap to hold a counter-demonstration wherever they show up, to argue with them, to amass greater numbers and yell them down.
   
A variation on this type of counter-demonstration is to show up and satirize them. The “God Hates Shrimp” people (godhatesshrimp.com) embody this philosophy, playing on the idea that the Judeo-Christian god of Leviticus, while admittedly not open-minded about homosexuality, casts a wide net concerning what is abomination in his eyes—and that net explicitly catches shellfish.
   
Then there’s another sort of counter-demonstration, like one being organized by Antonio Ruiz, he of the Creativity Network. Ruiz wants us “to create a wall of people, shoulder to shoulder, locked arms, in silence as a witness to this display of hate but also as symbol that we will protect our brothers and sisters, our children.”
   
I ran into Ruiz recently, and he asked me what I think is the best way to deal with the WBC’s presence in our city. My answer was what it is to most of the questions I could ever be asked, especially initially: I don’t know. All I could offer with any confidence is my own personal instinct: the WBC is silly and infra dignitatem, beneath worth paying any attention to.
   
And so we come to a third logical tactic: Ignore them. Or to phrase it more actively: Shun them. Groups like the WBC desperately want attention, of course; they live for a reaction. Why give them what they want, no matter your reasons for doing so?
   
But I place the emphasis on “personal” when I say this is my instinct. The fact that, for whatever reasons, A) it is very easy for me to distinguish between words and actions (notwithstanding that the use of words is itself an action), and B) symbolism holds little sway for me adds up to C) a feeling that making any gesture in regards to what a few yahoos are jabbering about isn’t worth the effort. I took part in more than one Prop. 8 protest march because Prop. 8 was an action—namely, an active denial of equal rights to a segment of our citizenry—and for bad actions I don’t sit still. But when it’s all talk—as it is with the WBC—as much as I spend the greatest part of my existence trafficking in one way or another in language, I don’t get too riled up.
   
Nonetheless, I’m well aware that A and/or B does not apply to many, perhaps most, people—in which case C wouldn’t make much sense to them. And it’s not like I think they’re missing something. Different experiences—and thus a different make-up—have shaped their beliefs and reactions about this issue to be somewhat different than mine.
   
The question that most interests me in relation to choosing the most pragmatic reaction to have or tactic to employ here is: What would be most discouraging the WBC? Because on this most of us agree, no matter the differences in our life experiences or idiosyncratic make-up: we want the WBC to leave Long Beach as unsatisfied as possible and completely disinclined from ever returning.
   
However, since these delightful creatures are probably so deeply entrenched within their moralistic (as opposed to moral) fortress of self-righteousness, it is likely that they would find nothing discouraging; and that Long Beach, being the home of Gay Pride and all, would never be off their radar.
   
As I was completing this column, my friend Asya made a point that gives me some pause concerning whether my personal reaction is the best overall tactic (however much it might be best for me) in dealing with the WBC’s imminent presence. Throwing back at me something I’ve said before—namely, that homosexuals are the last group in our society against whom it is still somewhat socially acceptable to openly discriminate²—she suggested that perhaps the best choice is to make to the WBC an unequivocal statement that they are not welcome, that we residents of Long Beach do not countenance their bigotry, that they are the true blasphemers, abhorrent to our eyes.
   
Ruiz puts this point more simply: “We must be visible proof that these people are not us.”
   
I suspect that on some level the WBC’s presence is a no-win-situation for us. Don’t show up to counter-demonstrate and of course no such active statement can be made—but show up and to some degree we play their game.
   
So where does that leave us homo-loving free-speech advocates³ who worship in a church of spirit the likes of which the WBC cannot imagine?
   
Hey, I’m a lot better at asking questions than at giving answers.

Related Coverage

Long Beach Wilson High Students Drown Out Anti-Gay Protestors
Councilmembers Garcia & Schipske Denounce Westboro Baptist Church Anti-Gay Protest 
 
Footnotes

1. “[. . . T]he Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime.” –WBC Pastor Fred Phelps, as quoted in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6/14/05 (article by Chuck Oxley)

2. Asya: “There’s a reason these people [i.e., as opposed to the traditional Ku Klux Klan] don’t feel the need to wear hoods.”

3. God hates us, too, according to the WBC.