How about big white signs about 9 feet tall that you can rest on the ground. Get about 10 people to hold the signs facing the Phelps. That way, no one involved in the parade can read the Phelp's signs. Just follow them, blocking the view of the press and the parade.

Why? why must you feed the trolls?

It's true. If we stopped paying any attention to these folks, they might just go away. They feed on publicity and confrontation.

No one will ever beat this mans counter protest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In8a0PyDj…

@2 exactly. Don't feed the trolls.

be careful around these folks. they are a sue-happy bunch.

Honestly, I think WBC is one of the best peacemakers in America right now and I don't mind them getting a bit of coverage. Even most hard-right Christians find WBC appalling, and I think that it gives us all a bit of reprieve from the right/left polarization to actually agree on something now and then.
An incredible thing happened as I watched one of the WBC folks interviewed a while ago on Fox News: I felt a deep, human connection to the interviewers (a deep human connection to Fox News people! that's a miracle for me...).

Will someone please, please, please! use my idea of standing next to them with an "I'm with stupid -->" sign. Please!!! (I would, but I'm 3000 miles away)

Oh my God. Dan lied about his age? Twice? I am shocked.

So whats the deal this time? When they wanted to do a slutwalk and WBC wanted to protest it. I told them (on their facebook) that I would show up just to counter protest WBC, but was told not to by slut walk people. They didnt want attention to be taken away from their slutwalk (more TV time for them?). So I was basically asked not to show up because I didnt feel the need to walk around in my underwear to protest the poor choise of words uttered by an idiot cop in Canada.

If I have no intrest in attending the picnic, will I and others like me be asked to not to show up?

Although if someone wanted to use my idea for a sign, go right ahead: "Latent Homosexuality - Google It"

@8 - It's been done. I suggest:
"This man has a pretty mouth -->"

Ass damn! I'm going to be out of town. Somebody please please make a sign that says "GOD HATES WHAT I HATE, how convenient" and send me a pic.

To the "don't feed the trolls" folks -
a) I really doubt WBC would go away if we just ignored them. Fanaticism doesn't shrivel up when nobody looks.
b) Hard though it is to believe from the point of view of the internet, a lot of folks IRL aren't aware of WBC. Are you willing to let those people's Pride day be ruined by WBC's uncontested presence?
c) Counter-protesting is a ton of fun and IMHO good for community-building. Who doesn't love a good rally/something to get het up about?

We have a Pride Picnic now?

Sign #18 on the "Ideas for signs" link is my favorite. That dog means business.

I always wonder where they like to eat when they're here and whether they go to movies or visit the Space Needle and Pike Place. Surley it can't be all protest all the time. Who are the real Phelpses, what do they do for fun? Maybe they need a reality program.

Can we get a contingent of the most statuesque drag queens evah, all in church dresses and Easter bonnets with a rainbow-background sign which says "God Hats Fags"? Please?

+1 don't feed the trolls

also, @7 nailed it

Every time you give these people media attention you further their message of hate. Westboro would be nothing but a bunch of bigoted inbred hicks without our support.

Hello there, my adorable Seattle friends!

Your best friends, the strangers & pilgrims at the Westboro Baptist Church (me included) get to come speak to you on the consequences of proud sin (AKA loving you, our neighbours: http://twitvid.com/OZ8ME)

We'll see you at the Pride Picnic, the Seattle SlutWalk, Taking Back Sunday concer & some local churches. Yay!

I'll be live-tweeting & posting FB statuses, so check it out:
@JaelPhelps, @GODH8SCampaign, @FredPhelpsQuote (many other WBC members on Twitter to - hint: I follow them)
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/fLMVeE YouTube: http://bit.ly/fNQq2K

I can't wait to see you!

Love,
Jael Phelps ;-)

When WBC came to protest the UChicago Hillel Center last year, we posted people at nearby intersections handing out little half-sheet flyers asking people not to talk to the assholes. Then the rest of us went into a multicultural center next door and had a pizza party, safe in the knowledge that they would get no attention.
The stupid bastards left after 15 minutes.

Hello there, my adorable Seattle friends!

Your best friends at the Westboro Baptist Church (me included) get to come speak to you on the consequences of proud sin (AKA loving you, our neighbours: http://twitvid.com/OZ8ME)

We'll see you at the Pride Picnic, the Seattle SlutWalk, Taking Back Sunday concer & some local churches. Yay!

I'll be live-tweeting & posting FB statuses, so check it out:
@JaelPhelps, @GODH8SCampaign, @FredPhelpsQuote (many other WBC members on Twitter to - hint: I follow them)
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/fLMVeE YouTube: http://bit.ly/fNQq2K

I can't wait to see you!

Love,
Jael Phelps ;-)

If it all wasn't just a sue happy sham I would think about counter protesting them, but really they are just trolls.

My sister, who lived in Manhattan, Kansas in the mid-nineties told me about a great T-shirt she saw there which boldly declared: "FRED BLEW ME".

However, her all-time favorite shirt - mine too - remains "SURE SEX IS FUN, UNTIL SOMEBODY LOSES AN EYE".

The WBC is not actually interested in proselytizing. They are all about baiting people to violate their 1st amendment rights, then they slap 'em with a lawsuit - most of the Phelps clan has a law degree. They are just a hateful religulous equivalent of ambulance chasers.
So whatever you do, get your permit from the city (like WBC is always careful to do) to stage your counter protest, and as much as you'd like to, don't hit anyone. Don't give these bastards a chance to litigate and fill their pockets.

That said, I really like venomlash's @24 approach.

OK I was upset for a minute thinking they weren't coming to Slutwalk. I was committed before I knew they were coming, but it is kinda on my bucket list to be protested by them (genuinely, not just showing up somewhere that they are), so I guess I am relieved (?) to see Jaels post. Woo hoo slutwalk!!

NOT THE TAKING BACK SUNDAY CONCERT!

@28: "The WBC is not actually interested in proselytizing. They are all about baiting people to violate their 1st amendment rights, then they slap 'em with a lawsuit - most of the Phelps clan has a law degree. They are just a hateful religulous equivalent of ambulance chasers."

They essentially pay for the plane tickets, motel stay, and mcdonalds meals for a few of their flock to visit the places of controversy. It's not like that costs more than what, 400$ for a single person/day to get countless millions of dollars of free publicity?

Fucking ignore them, media. That includes you, TheStranger. Please. They'll go away when people stop reporting on them.

@10: " I told them (on their facebook) that I would show up just to counter protest WBC, but was told not to by slut walk people. They didnt want attention to be taken away from their slutwalk (more TV time for them?). So I was basically asked not to show up because I didnt feel the need to walk around in my underwear to protest the poor choise of words uttered by an idiot cop in Canada.

If I have no intrest in attending the picnic, will I and others like me be asked to not to show up?"

Yes, for the aforementioned reason. There's no need to counter-protest, because it just adds to their ego and facetime at the expense of all other causes because the media reports on the "controversy" more than the actual issues at hand.

THIS GUY LOVES SANTORUM -->

would be my pick.

I really doubt they believe any of what they show, and it's just a scam to sue people. I do like venom's idea though. I'm always down for pizza parties.

Oh, I really hope that poster is the true Jael Phelps. If so:

Hello, Jael! I happen to be a former resident of Joplin, Missouri! My parents, my in-laws, half of my siblings and many friends are still residents of the tornado-stricken town. On May 29, the day of the memorial service for the now 139 victims of the storm, the day that Obama came to speak to the survivors, your crew planned to visit and picket the home of my alma mater. It was all planned: the police set aside a nice, comfy roped-off area near enough to the event that you would have had a proper view.

And yet, you and yours did not show.

Why is that, Jael? Westboro has been quite open about their opinion that the tornado hit my town, killed people I know, ruined the homes and livelihoods of friends and siblings, left a place I know like the back of my hand a six-mile long scrap yard, was the action of a wrath-filled god unhappy with the city's fairly progressive stance towards homosexuality (Sloggers take note: Joplin is one small city in "flyover" country that has an out and proud gay population. We aren't all insane out here in the Midwest.) I believe the phrase on your website was "Thank God for the dead in Joplin Mo."? So why not come to town and profess the beliefs you claim to hold so dear, more than the fear of vitriol of onlookers, more than the threat of violence, more than the opinion of the world at large? Why back out when everything was so carefully arranged?

I think I know the answer: you and yours are cowards and trolls. You prod those you consider weak to get a rise out of them out of pure malice and glee, with crazed thoughts that this somehow serves a higher purpose.

But Joplin was not weak on May 29. Thousands came to protest Westboro that day, Jael. They lined the streets, holding signs of support: churches, LGBTQ groups, the Patriot Guard, the staff of the University, and many, many everyday folks, all coming together to say "We will have no hate in our town. We will have no hate toward our victims. We are strong."

What an opportunity for Westboro! Thousands of people to preach to, to prod, to anger, to stand toe to toe with and profess your faith to, all in town for you! Perhaps it might have come to blows, as it nearly did for the lone protester at the event, but a good Christian warrior must face the army of the sinful with no fear, right?

Yet you did not come. A chance to fight for the masses you think are turned toward sin, and you did not come. One wonders if God tested you with the power of numbers and if you failed the spiritual test out of bodily fear.

So how, Jael, smelling so much of failure, can you proudly protest an innocent picnic, a fun affair for those who wish to celebrate the ability to live one's life openly with family and friends? Yes, please, target the children and their parents, you brave protesters. Target the barbecue, the potato salad, the face painters. Target the clowns. Spew your rotten, congealed version of Christianity at the light-hearted event, dust off your hands and then call it a day. Because as I've learned from your group, it takes a strong person to bully the unassuming, the innocent, the quiet, the happy than it does to bully the enraged, the grieving, the snarling, the numerous.

Right?

@35: "Thousands came to protest Westboro that day, Jael"

How is that failure? The Phelps LOVE it when people drum up free coverage for their cause.

"can you proudly protest an innocent picnic, a fun affair for those who wish to celebrate the ability to live one's life openly with family and friends"

Yes? Of course they can. That's all they do. You're talking about a family that's been physically and emotionally abused for decades. What do they know about happiness? They LOVE receiving hatred.

Just love them for the broken pieces of humanity they are and move on with your lives.

@ 36, my point is that they claim to love protesting to vitriolic groups because they believe this brings people to God, yet shied away from one, GIANT vitriolic group of tornado victims and their supporters. And now they've moved on to a picnic, cause the picnic folk won't hurt 'em too bad, they can make their point, irritate and anger some folks for yuks and then shove off.

Also: we all know that they're trolls, and we all know we should ignore them, blah blah blah. But a hearty fuck you, sir (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) for arguing for silence in this instant. My town is literally a disaster area, and these assholes were planning to scream at us that it was our fault. That it was, for instance, my father's fault that he had to dig some of his dead coworkers out of the wreckage of his workplace because he thinks people should marry whomever they wish to marry. I think you should give allowances to the grieving people of Joplin for gathering as one against that tiny, hateful group of emotional abuse victims.

And hell, the rally worked. They never showed, and there is every indication that it was because there were simply too damn many of us. So they aimed for the quiet picnic instead. Lame.

i could make some bitchy comment about ms. phelps' first name, but i won't 'cause i'm a nice person.

Shirley, You Must be Joking.

I think the anti-protest should be a bunch of paired off girls and boys making out all day right in front of the protesters. Clever or non-sequitur signs are lame.

@37: "But a hearty fuck you, sir (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) for arguing for silence in this instant."

Well-taken. I understand fully why you do it, I just wish the media didn't pander to the Phelps so much for ratings. My ire isn't reserved for counter-protestors. If only this was Scientology, who doesn't understand how to deal with bad press but by freaking out. My ire here is for giving the WBC the attention they seek, like they do for any psychopaths.

"And hell, the rally worked. They never showed, and there is every indication that it was because there were simply too damn many of us. So they aimed for the quiet picnic instead. Lame."

I do take note that the WBC announces their presence in a lot of places where they have little intention of visiting (they *are* a business, after all.)

Flash mob them

@ 41. Completely understand your point, Ms. Rand. Trolls they be, and trolls they should be treated as in almost every case. Almost.

Can we please stop giving them attention now?
I agree with whoever suggested putting "I'm with stupid ----->" on a massive sign.
or "God hates (plastic) Bags"