On Feb. 19, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, including Stevie Merino, candidate for mayor of Long Beach, participated in a mass counter protest against the anti-LGBT, anti-Semitic Westboro Baptist Church in Long Beach. The WBC was met by more than 1,000 protesters.
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The Westboro Baptist Church was formed in 1955 by Fred Phelps in Topeka, Kan. The ridiculous “fire and brimstone” rhetoric has attracted a tiny cult following for the past 55 years with their scare tactics of damnation and hatred. The whole Phelps family is at the forefront. With other cult followers, they hold daily, hate-filled protests targeting what they consider “sinful acts.” They travel around the country toting signs that read: “God hates fags” and “The Jews killed Jesus.” This is just a small sample of their bigoted message, which they promote daily on their Web site.
The WBC came to Long Beach to attack the Woodrow Wilson Classical High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance students’ club and the Alpert Jewish Community Center. Word of the protest caused the Wilson school administration to send letters to parents informing them of the protest and explaining how this should be seen as a “teachable moment.” They said this would be a first-hand experience on the workings of the First Amendment rights to “free speech.”
In spite of the administration’s instructions, however, more than 1,000 students came out to protest the WBC at Wilson with the aim of getting them out of Long Beach. Students surrounded the WBC members, and the crowd chanted “Bigots go home!” The city’s police squad had to escort the WBC away from the crowd to protect the fascists.
The administration was right about one thing, it was a lesson, just not the type they intended to “teach.” It was a real lesson on how to stand up to fascists and not just ignore them. The students and other protesters understood that fascists should not be allowed to spew hatred.
The WBC announced multiple protests at different locations in Long Beach for that day. At each location they were met with large groups of counter protesters.
Long Beach is a multinational city with a large LGBT community, which showed up in droves to discourage the fascist group from coming into town. “We will not tolerate hatred and expose our children to such bigotry,” protester Lorraine Basker told Liberation.
PSL candidate Merino protested alongside the students and LGBT community. Volunteers passed out campaign flyers that highlighted the campaign’s strong stand against racism and fascism.
No to fascism! No to racism and homophobia!
