Dressed as angels, about 30 counterprotesters and about 40 supporters braved Saturday night’s cold, wind-whipped rain to take a stand outside the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts.
The angels and their friends were there to block fundamentalist protesters who were scheduled to picket the theatre’s production of “The Laramie Project,” a play about the brutal murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard.
The counterprotesters, who included students from Brookfield High School, but also supporters from all over the state, New York and Rhode Island, waited for two hours, but the picketers from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, never showed up.
In addition to being anti-gay, the congregation is known for protesting at soldiers’ funerals and high school events.
“I don’t think any of this was a waste of effort,” Roberta Goldberg, of Danbury, said. “But frankly, I’d like to thank them because this entire scenario has galvanized the community like nothing else could have.”
The angels lined up along Whisconier Road and cars honked as they drove by. Some people rolled down their windows to yell things like, “go angels” or “gay is OK.”
via Counterprotesters say efforts not wasted despite fundamentalist no-show – NewsTimes.
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