- Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor
Westboro Baptist Church will be in North Texas for a few days beginning Friday, July 9, according to their picketing schedule. Among their stops that day will be Congregation Beth El Binah, a Reform synagogue that meets at the John Thomas Gay and Lesbian Community Center.
Other stops listed are the Dallas Holocaust Museum on Record Street in the West End; the Jewish Community Center off Royal Lane and Central Expressway; the Texas Jewish Post, which is the local Jewish newspaper whose office is in a building on Beltline Road; and Yahneh Academy, a co-ed modern Orthodox high school in North Dallas.
“Oh, we’ll prepare something special for that evening,” said Beth El Binah Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor.
Leynor invited the community to join the service that begins at 7:30 p.m.
“False prophets. judging others, there’s so much you can do with this,” he said, very excited about the visit.
Dallas police have already been notified about the Phelps clan’s visit.
The group will apparently spend the weekend in Dallas. No protests are listed yet for Saturday, but they will begin protesting on Sunday at Chabad of Dallas, an Orthodox synagogue; Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington; Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadelupe in downtown Dallas; and Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Arlington, in that order.
No word how they are going to get back and forth between Arlington and Dallas twice that morning with 15 minutes between appearances. They have a habit of not showing up at many of their planned appearances.
Just a word to those who might consider confronting these idiots. Don’t. They are small ignorant people who make money by suing their attackers. Don’t give them any more publicity than they already get. Ignore them and they will look as pathetic as they really are, make a big deal and they will get all the attention they desire.
Good point Hardy! Perhaps the congregation should consider meeting at another location while the crazies are in town.
Because 5 idiots are outside protesting is no reason to move. They will not be allowed on the property of any of the groups they are coming to protest. They are planning to arrive at 6:15 and be gone by 6:45. The congregation works on gay time AND Jewish time. Services don’t start til 7:30. No one arrives much before that. Let the idiots protest an empty building.
I suggest getting in touch with Chris Mason at Phelps-a-thon.com to help organize a fund-raiser for every minute the Phelps picketers are protesting in town. Why not fight discrimination with good ol’ fashioned charity? The proceeds can go to any LGBT cause the community chooses, and Phelps-a-thon sends a Thank You card to Fred Phelps stating the amount raised for LGBT causes while his folks were in town.
Westboro Baptist is very similar to our very own GetEQUAL bunch on crazies. They, too are laughed at and ridiculed. Silly, useless stunts, that’s all.
We are going to make the most outrageous / nonsensical signs that we can think of. The idea is not necessarily to gain attention for ourselves, but to deflect attention away from Westboro Baptist Church.
Our silly signs should counterbalance the ignorance of their signs… this is not the time or the place to rally your causes whether they be political, sexual or otherwise. Please remember that we will be standing in front of The Dallas Holocaust Museum, and a certain amount of respect will be expected.
The point of our demonstration is simply to mirror the absurdity of their message by displaying our own absurd messages. This is all in fun to protest serious hate!
There should be no verbal or physical interaction with Westboro Baptist Church. This is a going to be a peaceful gathering – ideally, we will give Westboro Baptist Church absolutely no acknowledgement at all. Please do not bring children under the age of 12 and all minors should be accompanied by an adult. The reason we ask that young children not attend is that Westboro Baptist Church (though never reported to be violent) are very serious about their cause and message of hate.
A nice gesture would be to directly donate to the institution that Westboro Baptist Church is picketing against, but at this time donations will not be handled by our group. We have contacted Phelps-a-Thon at https://www.phelps-a-thon.com/Home.html in hopes that maybe we can have that going on while Westboro Baptist Church is in the DFW area. Please take note of the other places in the DFW area that Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket from July 9th – July 11th, 2010. Their protest schedule can be found here: https://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html
So come on out with your silliest sign and put their messages of hate on the back burner!
If you would like to participate with Silly Signs you can contact me at ccole@myway.com.
I spoke to the Development Director at the Holocaust Museum. They’re thinking of turning the event into a fundraiser and have their supporters pledge $1 for every minute the protesters remain outside the museum.
The best thing you can do is use their press to counter them. Use this coverage as a chance to raise money – awareness for YOUR cause. This has been happening a lot to them and their is nothing worse. Please be sure to share with them how much they helped you raise!
As a straight man I will proudly stand with you!!
Why do we IMITATE these clowns? Why do we lower ourselves to THEIR level?
It doesn’t prove anything and it doesn’t accomplish anything. People laugh at Westboro Baptist and even most Christians have dismissed them. WHAT is the point of engaging them? The best that can come of it is we APPEAR the SAME as THEM.
I love the counter-protest with silly signs. Steal their limelight and use humor to drown out the hate. A bunch of absurd, funny signs will get more press than the WBC idiots, and hey – any excuse for a good party…
JUST TO LET EVERYONE KNOW…
THERE IS A FACEBOOK GROUP/EVENT PAGE FOR THE COUNTER PROTESTS…
Here is the link.
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116209905091642
Westboro Counter-Demonstration: Silly Signs Against Serious Hate! https://www.facebook.com/?sk=events#!/event.php?eid=123031237736452
We are going to make the most outrageous / nonsensical signs that we can think of. The idea is not necessarily to gain attention for ourselves, but to deflect attention away from Westboro Baptist Church.
Our silly signs should counterbalance the ignorance of their signs… this is not the time or the place to rally your causes whether they be political, sexual or otherwise. Please remember that we will be standing in front of The Dallas Holocaust Museum, and a certain amount of respect will be expected.
The point of our demonstration is simply to mirror the absurdity of their message by displaying our own absurd messages. This is all in fun to protest serious hate!
There should be no verbal or physical interaction with Westboro Baptist Church. This is a going to be a peaceful gathering – ideally, we will give Westboro Baptist Church absolutely no acknowledgement at all. Please do not bring children under the age of 12 and all minors should be accompanied by an adult. The reason we ask that young children not attend is that Westboro Baptist Church (though never reported to be violent) are very serious about their cause and message of hate.
A nice gesture would be to directly donate to the institution that Westboro Baptist Church is picketing against, but at this time donations will not be handled by our group. We have contacted Phelps-a-Thon at https://www.phelps-a-thon.com/Home.html in hopes that maybe we can have that going on while Westboro Baptist Church is in the DFW area. Please take note of the other places in the DFW area that Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket from July 9th – July 11th, 2010. Their protest schedule can be found here: https://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html
So come on out with your silliest sign and put their messages of hate on the back burner!
Update: Changed the name just a bit to be CLEAR that we are NOT inviting people to support Westboro Baptist Church – we want WBC to find their presence outside of the Holocaust Museum to be pointless.
Happy to support Beth El BInah anyway possible. Ignoring them at the time, then fundraising off their hate sounds like a great plan.
Happy to support you. Ignoring sounds wisest, if not the most fun. FUnding raising around their visit sounds about the best revenge.
Standing up for Jews, Gays and Mexicans, why should you?
Pastor Fred Phelps is staging protest against Jews, Gays and Lesbians and the Mexicans right here in Dallas, Texas. Here is an opportunity for you to stand up for the rights of others and add purpose in life. Join us for goodwill prayers and hope the positive energy will open people’s hearts and minds towards each other, leading to appreciating the value of living in harmony.
I read the following poem in one of the places;
Why should you stand up for others? You may find answers in the following lines inspired by Martin Niemoller’s eternal poem about co-existence;
First they expressed their hate for Jews,
it did not bother me because I am not a Jew;
Then they condemn Gays & Lesbians,
it did not bother me because I am not a Gay;
Then they deny the divinity of Catholicism,
it did not bother me because I am not a Catholic;
Then they want to look down upon Mexicans,
it did not bother me because I am not a Mexican;
Finally, they want to harass me the new immigrant,
It does bother me, that there is no one left to speak for me.
Thank God for giving me the guidance to Join in with Jews, Gays & Lesbians at three locations today to show the solidarity, we are standing by them with them. The three locations were; Dallas Holocaust Museum, Texas Jewish Post, Yavenah Academy. I appreciate each one at each location to join in to say Amen to the goodwill prayers.
Thank God for Mike Jacobs and Max Goldblatt founders of the Dallas Holocaust Museum and surviors of Holocaust along with the members present at the Museum and Judi Arkow for joinining me for the Goodwill prayers.
As a Muslim, I am standing up for the rights of every human being; it is not against the individuals but against the ignorance. As a Muslim I have stood up for Atheists, Bahais, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Natives, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and many of them in between.
Worldwide campaign asking SLAYER to play in front of the Westboro Baptist Church #slayer https://on.fb.me/geiDJv