Earlier in the year, Caitlin and I made the hour drive to Boulder, CO to counter protest Westboro Baptist Church. If you haven’t heard of these people, time to crawl out of your cave and Google them. They are against everyone but themselves. Brandon is the love of my life – he is also Catholic. Caitlin is one of my closest friends, and by previous blogs you can probably guess she’s a Christian. Both of these people, whom I adore, are targets of this group. I am also a firm believer in the statement “if you don’t want to stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them”. Our military has fought for our freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and other very important rights that maybe we take for granite sometimes. I was reminded during our counter protest that just because we have the freedom of speech, it doesn’t mean that something intelligent or useful always comes out people’s mouths.
It was a great feeling to be a part of something that was so important. You might not think that 300 people standing on a sidewalk counter protesting is important, but it is. I think that all of us being there shows that there are a lot of people that support the groups that are often targets of hate. It shows that there are tons people that care. It brought a lot of people together that would have never come together otherwise. For instance, I stood next to many CU students without a word of hate being exchanged between us.Westboro is coming back to Colorado. Those six words almost make me sick. This time, they are headed to my home away from home, CSU. I never really stayed at a high school long enough to have any deep pride for my high school, but college has been very different. I am very proud to be a Ram. These people, if the term person can be applied to these idiots, are attacking something that I am so proud of. Their website has this to say about the students of CSU:
“WBC to picket Colorado State University where this nation's students of higher learning show how absolutely worthless their parents have made them. They've been raised on a steady diet of lies from birth. Their parents, teachers and preachers taught them God is a liar -- that it's okay to be gay, to fornicate at will, and to murder unborn babies. The only thing they are good for now are the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan where Anti-Christ Beast Obama will send them to be slaughtered. Today, you will for the first time in your life hear the truth about God -- He has standards that you are required to abide by; if you don't, you are going to hell forever. It, in fact, is not okay to be gay, fornicate, or murder babies. These words are life and health to any who have ears to hear. The time is short! Listen! Obey!”
That speaks for itself. These people don’t listen to anyone, but I’d have plenty to say if I got to sit down with them. I’m proud to be who I am. I love my friends the way they are no matter if they are gay, Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Democrat, Republican, pro-choice, pro-life, or military. I fully support our troops and to see Westboro Baptist Church hold up a sign that says “Thank God For IED’s” makes me furious. I won’t even go into how angry it makes me to hear them protesting at a soldier’s funeral. I’m going to be on my road trip when they come into town or I’d be there. If you can, it’s important to show them that Colorado is a state that doesn’t allow hate. Make your signs, go out, and show them we’re a state that cares.
-Katie
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