Silencing the hatred

COEUR d'ALENE - All you need is love.

That was North Idaho's collective, peaceful response to a small band of Westboro Baptist Church members who demonstrated early Friday in front of two Coeur d'Alene high schools and on the campus of North Idaho College.

Members of the Kansas-based church started picketing before dawn at Coeur d'Alene High School, and later moved to Lake City High and then the college.

The church protesters were met at each location by large crowds of area residents, who showed up to counter the church group's mainly anti-homosexual and anti-military hate messages.

"I'm here because my dad was in World War II, my son is on his second deployment in Afghanistan, and how can we not

be here?" said Vanda Reimer of Rathdrum. "The people that are across the street, they're here because of men that are sacrificing their lives. They're here because they have that freedom of speech."

Reimer was one of nearly 75 people to show up in the early morning darkness to confront the church members near Coeur d'Alene High School, at the corner of Dalton Avenue and Fourth Street.

There were eight members of the Westboro church group carrying about 20 signs; some held four at one time. They stood behind a police barricade and sang popular songs with the words changed to reflect their hate messages.

At each location, counter-protesters carried their own signs often promoting a message of peace, love and unity, and sang their own songs to drown out the church members' music - John Lennon's "All You Need is Love," and "Amazing Grace."

There were no arrests or other incidents requiring police action, other than crowd control, during the pickets.

"The demonstrations were very peaceful on both parts," said Coeur d'Alene Police Sgt. Christie Wood. "Everyone was orderly and obeyed the law."

The crowd grew when the group moved to Lake City High School.

"I'm really involved in our GSA (Gay Straight Alliance). I'm actually straight, but I have lots of friends who are gay, and our school is very diverse," said Amanda Rice, a Lake City High School sophomore. "We're using them to show our spirit. At our school, we love everybody. For us it's not about hate."

Coeur d'Alene resident Mark Haberman watched the demonstration at Lake City.

"I'm a middle-aged gay man, and I think they seem like a sorry bunch," Haberman said. "I wonder what they see when they look in the mirror at the end of the day? I don't think this accomplishes anything."

Parker Heisey, a 17-year-old junior at Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, attended the Lake City High School demonstration because he is interested in his community and politics, and because he was curious.

Heisey said that while he accepts the Westboro protesters' right to freedom of speech, as a Christian, he strongly disagrees with their message.

"I believe that is not who God is. God hates sin, not the sinner," Heisey said. "Don't equate this group with the Christian church."

Shirley Phelps-Rogers, an attorney and the daughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, led the Kansas protesters to their final planned protest, on the North Idaho College campus.

Phelps-Rogers stood with her small band of sign holders across the street from the college's student union building where hundreds of students stood with their own signs, costumes and props promoting peace, unity and gay rights.

Phelps-Rogers called the counter protesters "freaks," saying they were "hating on" the church group, and that she enjoyed it.

"These people don't serve God, they serve themselves and their idols," Phelps said. "They're saying with one voice, we will not have that man, Christ Jesus, to rule over us."

There were just two local residents who visibly supported the Westboro group: Christine Newman and Shaun Winkler of Spirit Lake.

Winkler, a former member of the Aryan Nations who worked under Richard Butler, said, "I support them 100 percent. We highly endorse why they're here. Schools are advocating homosexuality."

Winkler held a sign that said, "May there be plenty more Matt Shepards."

Shepard was 22 when he was beaten to death in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998. His murder was motivated by homophobia and gained widespread national attention.

The Shepard killing set the stage for one of Westboro Baptist Church's first highly publicized protests. Church members picketed Shepard's funeral and held up signs condemning Shepard's grieving mother, Judy, for her son's homosexuality.

Church members are still criticizing Shepard's mother. One member held up a sign at the Coeur d'Alene protests that said, "Judy Sent Matt to Hell."

The NIC theatre department's production of "The Laramie Project," a play that examines the effect Shepard's murder had on the people of Laramie, is believed to be the catalyst for the church group's visit to the Inland Northwest.

Loretta Underwood, an NIC student and cast member in the NIC theatre production, was surprised by the crowds that turned out for the counter-protest, and to attend a unity rally later.

The actors knew the play was controversial, she said.

"The first time that we read the script together, when we got done, we just kind of stared at each other. We didn't know that it was going to be this big an impact on so many people," Underwood said.

They didn't think the church group would actually show up to protest their production.

"When we found out it was going to happen, it was like, oh, this is so real, and it affects so many people," Underwood said. "The fact that there is so much support is amazing."

Westboro Baptist Church members picketed similarly Thursday at various locations in Spokane and Cheney. Peaceful counter-protests occurred in those locations as well.