Last week bore the tragic deaths of three students at my school. A fire killed April Englund, Amanda Rief, and Scott Hams as they slept. This horrible accident sent shockwaves of grief through our school. But what happened afterwards was beyond shocking.
This morning at 7:45 the right wing religious hate group of the Westburo Baptist Church came to picket on our campus. They stood on the corner with evil smiles as they held signs preaching "God Hates Fags" and "God Hates America". One even depicted a burning house with "Gods Wrath" written in bold. They took up their position as more than 300 of us students stood in defense of the grieving families. We carried signs bearing the names of our lost friends and shouted “Go home, no one here wants your hate”. We woke up early and braved the chilly winds to show our solidarity with each other. We resisted their bigotry and hatred by waving signs of peace and hope, some even got creative. A friend of mine who stood just behind the picketing church and held a sign with a downward arrow “We Are Idiots”.
As the police kept order we rushed in around them, completely surrounding them for several minutes. The hateful signs of the picketers couldn’t be seen by on looking cameras because of the mass of students. We chanted “go home, go home, go home” and at 8:05 am they did. As they walked to their cars near one of our dorms a student blared music out his window, music to the tune of “God Bless America”. Unfortunately for one of our families they left to Minnesota to picket the funeral of April Englund. All of our hopes and support go out to the families of these innocent students especially those who must bear the indignity of this religious bigotry.
We, the students of the University Wisconsin Stout, ask for your support.
http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.htmlhttp://www.uwstout.edu/deaths/remember/index.shtml
