Blue Boat of Youth and Young Adult MinistriesAfter Being Protested by Westboro Baptist Church
This insightful reflection is from Katie Carpenter, co-president of the Unitarian Universalist campus ministry group at Vassar about their visit from Westboro Baptist Church on February 28th. -Kayla
The Westboro Baptist Church protested Vassar College February 28th, for supporting LGBTQ rights. In response Vassar’s current and alumni community came together amazingly to denounce Westboro Baptist’s views, in part by raising over $100,000 for The Trevor Project, which provides crisis support and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth. Seeing people rise to meet the challenge made me incredibly proud of my community, and what it strives to stand for.
But what made me prouder was to hear Vassar alum Joseph Tolton, the National Minister of Social Justice from the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries in New York, speak about not just his love for the school but his desire to see it always improving. In the discourse over this event, I’ve heard students challenge the school and point out that homophobia, racism, sexism, cissexism and other inequalities do exist here; they exist everywhere.
It was a strange experience, to be sure, seeing the Westboro Baptist Church members. There were four of them, and they looked just like you see in pictures; offensive posters, American flags on their clothing, the whole bit. But after you get over the initial surprise that they actually exist, it was easy to not take them very seriously. It’s easy – maybe too easy – to look at Westboro Baptist and feel safe because they’re extreme, and we can distance ourselves from their opinions.
It’s easier to confront hate when it’s in the form of four angry, irrational people on the other side of a police barricade, and you have over 500 people standing with you. It’s not so easy to look inward at your community and demand better. Denouncing the Westboro Baptist Church is easy, but it’s only the beginning of creating real change. Continuing down that path requires facing our own biases and assumptions. We may not agree with hate groups, but we do all have a responsibility for a world in which they can exist. Seeing many Vassar students try to take ownership of that fact gave me an enormous sense of love and appreciation for my community, despite its faults, and I think that’s a sturdy foundation to build from.
– Katie Carpenter.
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Years ago, in New York City, I fed into just what the Westboro people wanted. I got in their faces, was equally obnoxious, and slipped away in a crowd to avoid being arrested when the cops showed up. I felt righteous. I felt RIGHT. Of course, I was 20-ish and not involved in any faith or learning community, and I had a very different perspective than I do now. When I was protecting the perimeter at the protest in Phoenix at Justice General Assembly, I was grateful for the training that emphasized non-engagement. Nobody’s mind was changed by my yelling in the 90’s at the Stonewall march, but I had a Sheriff tell me that I was “doing a good, no, a great job” and that I was “awesome.” That was from his observance of my humor and light-heartedness. I share to emphasize how love won that day. It’s so easy to yell, it’s harder to come from compassion and be gentle (at first, anyway, it’s easier for me now!). Love to you all! -Maria Bareiss, New London, CT