DUTCHTOWN ? A threat to protest Dutchtown High School?s production of ?The Laramie Project? by anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church became in turns a conversation about religion, a shouting match, and an occasional sing-along.
No one from Westboro actually showed up Thursday night, as scheduled on the Topeka, Kan., church?s ?picket list.?
One protester, Anthony Battaglia from First Baptist Church in Gonzales, wound up facing a crowd of about 500 counter-protesters alone.
Battaglia said while he doesn?t agree with Westboro?s methods, he does agree with the church?s view of faith, a faith that sees homosexuality as wrong.
?I don?t see myself as fitting on either side, but I can?t stay in the middle,? Battaglia said.
Counter-protester the Rev. Clinton Crawshaw with The Big Easy Metropolitan Community Church out of New Orleans, replied that Battaglia had picked the wrong side. ?You know you have to choose a side ? hatred, or love,? Crawshaw said
?The Laramie Project? tells the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was brutally beaten in Laramie by two locals later convicted in his death. Westboro Baptist Church picketed Matthew Shepard?s funeral with signs that read: ?Matthew is burning in Hell.?
The mass of counter protesters at Dutchtown High carried signs with slogans such as ?God hates fat-free mayonnaise,? ?God Drinks Haterade? and ?Jesus had two dads, why can?t I?? meant to deflect the message for which Westboro is known.
In the end, Battaglia?s only sign read, ?God Bless Our Soldiers? ? Westboro has also protested outside soldiers? funerals ? and was passed on to him by a counter-protester who was leaving the event.
Many counter-protesters stored their signs outside the cafeteria while they went in to see the performance.
The event remained peaceful, if lively, until Battaglia, still alone, left around 7:15, when the rest of the crowd dispersed.
His message, he said, was to let people know about ?the well-rounded character of the God of the universe, and while God is love, he is also just.?
But that ?you?re not OK? viewpoint of faith and sexuality, said Keith Mozingo, pastor at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Community Church, causes a lot of suffering, especially in high school students, which is why he helped organize groups to lend moral support to the play.
