Westboro Baptist At Broomfield HS: Counterprotest Planned

BROOMFIELD, CO -- Members of the Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church announced they would be in Colorado this week, taking their inflammatory picketing to schools in Broomfield and Colorado Springs and protesting a Boulder meeting of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Science Administration.

Westboro members said on their website they planned to picket Broomfield High School Tuesday between 2:30 - 3 p.m. to bring "words of life and health" to students.

“It’s a sad occasion to see another group of kids graduating from high school … with nothing of any substance to guide them. They’ve been lied to their entire lives by parents, preachers, teachers and mentors about the only thing that has any value for their souls, knowing what their Creator requires of them,” the group posted.

Local members of a Broomfield parents group have quickly set up a counter protest to meet at 2 p.m. at the school, located at 1 Eagle Way, in Broomfield.

"The counterprotest is simply to come together as a community to show the students, teachers and staff at BHS that hate has no place in Broomfield; that we have their back, and to hopefully be a wall between the picketers and the school so that the kids can focus on end-of-years things," the group Broomfield Moms of Tweens, Teens, and Twenty Somethings posted on Facebook. "BHS students are joining on this. We may actually need to shelter some students who are scheduled to check in that day."

Parents are urged to present a non-confrontational, peaceful protest in support of the students, organizers said.

"DO NOT engage with the picketers. They will scream at you - SMILE. They will try to intimidate you - SMILE. Do not talk to them. Do not answer them back. Do NOT Touch them. They will try to enrage you - Take a deep breath. They may even have small children screaming expletives. Temper your anger and shock. Do not wear ANYTHING or carry ANYTHING that could be, even slightly, misinterpreted by the picketers as a threat. REMEMBER - we are here as a community to support our kids in a peaceful manner. We cannot even acknowledge the picketers."

Boulder Valley Schools said fewer students would be at school Tuesday because graduation took place Saturday. A letter from Principal Virginia Ramsey to parent said:

We have been working closely with our partners at the Broomfield Police Department and have developed plans, which are subject to change, to facilitate the expected protests and and expected counter protests near the corner of Eagle Way (10th Avenue) and Daphne Street. The goal will be to provide them their First Amendment right to free speech, while ensuring student, staff and community safety.
We do not expect the protest to impact the school on Tuesday. With finals occuring, there will be very few students at the school. We plan to operate, as normal.
We do, however, encourage our students and staff to avoid the corner of Eagle and Daphne and to refrain from engaging any of the participants.

The controversial religious sect run by family members of the late Rev. Fred Phelps, who died in 2014, has protested homosexuality at slain veteran funerals. Their slogans which they call the "Truth of God" show up on signs saying "God Hates F-gs," “Fornication is a ruinous sin,” “God hates drunks,” and "God does not love everyone."

The Westboro Baptist Church is not affiliated with any Baptist or Christian denomination and is listed as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.

Earlier in the day the group announced they would picket at a Boulder conference of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Science Administration.

"God hates the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration!" the group posted on their website. Apparently in favor of global warming, the group warns: "[T]he globe will get warmer, the climate will change, and humans will not be capable of stopping their march to their destruction."

The group also claimed they will picket at the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy Graduation at Falcon Stadium on Wednesday morning.

Image via Shutterstock: NEW YORK CITY - SEPTEMBER 11 2014:members of Westboro Baptist Church appeared in front of Ground Zero during memorial services on the 13th anniversary of the WTC attacks with signs praising the attack.