The wackos from Westboro say that Harrington's murder and the Virginia Tech massacre nearly three years ago were the result of a curse from God for Tech's tolerance of gays and lesbians.
By all accounts, the protests and counter-protests were peaceful. The event was used as a fundraiser by the LGBTA student group from Tech.
All three local TV news programs covered the protests. Roanoke's Newschannel10's coverage (shown first below) did not include Phelps-Roper's hateful message as they found it too offensive to broadcast, instead focusing on the positive messages coming from counter protesters.
The coverage from Lynchburg's ABC-13 (shown below 2nd) gave way too much attention the the Phelpses in my opinion, but also focused on the reaction of Morgan Harrington's father and his difficulty in dealing with this desecration of his daughter's memory.
News 7 (which for some reason won't embed) took a different approach and focused on Westboro Baptist's misinterpretation of the bible, with commentary from a local preacher. You can view that video here.
What I find the most amusing is that when religious extremists like this show up in a state that is run by rabidly anti-gay politicians, the churchy folks show up to denounce them. But months from now when the Phelps Klan has gone home and today's protests are a distant memory, those same people will use the very same bible verses as the Phelpes to justify their own anti-gay bigotry. It's as if Virginians are saying, "Hey, if anybody's gonna hate our faggots, it'll be us! Go get your own faggots to bash!"
My brain hurts.
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Society always needs someone to bash. The need for people to exalt themselves through judging and bashing others has always been around. The practice is of course, anti-biblical...my bible says...exalt yourself and you will be humbled ! It has always been up to those who are oppressed to stand up...visibly and proudly and loudly...to scream...we aren't taking it any longer ! Introspect yourselves -those who bash others-- and humble yourselves and love thy neighbor as thyself..hello. If you can't love them...at least respect them as being equal children of God.
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