Counter-Protest Drowns Out Westboro Baptist Church Members at Churchill High School

Students from several Bethesda-area high schools rallied to counter hate group

By Andrew Metcalf

Colorful counter-protesters line the sidewalk outside Winston Churchill High School in response to an appearance by members of the hate group Westboro Baptist Church Andrew Metcalf

More than a hundred local high school students and other residents lined the sidewalk outside Winston Churchill High School Tuesday afternoon to counter-protest members of the Westboro Baptist Church who were picketing the school.

The controversial church is notorious for hateful speech directed at lesbians, gays, Jews and others. While a reporter could not locate any members outside the school around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, the group’s Twitter account posted pictures of three women holding signs outside the school at 2:07 p.m. along with a message saying the school was encouraging sin and students needed to learn from their signs. The group posted on its website it was at the school to protest the presence of a Gay Straight Alliance Club.

Despite a request from the school not to counter-protest, dozens of students and adults gathered on the sidewalk outside the school and held their own colorful signs with messages like “Hate free zone” and “Love wins.” Many students had rainbows painted on their faces or carried rainbow-colored umbrellas to keep them dry in a light rain. Rainbow-colored balloons were draped across the school’s main entrance.

“The school told us we weren’t allowed to counter-protest, which is why we’re on the sidewalk just off school grounds,” said Azariah Kurlantzick, a senior who serves as the president of the Sexuality and Gender Association at Churchill. “We felt it was important to have a show of support for LGBT rights.”

Senior Ben Wilson said the presence of the protesters and talk about them coming to the area brought the school together.

The school’s TV program, The Daily Dose, posted a Twitter message announcing Tuesday was Unity & Pride Day at the school with a picture of a bulldog, the school’s mascot, being lifted by rainbow-colored balloons.

“It unified us under one cause, fighting against their hate,” Senior Valerie Weitz said. “It not only brought us together, it brought the whole county together.”

Weitz pointed out that students from Walt Whitman, Walter Johnson and Richard Montgomery had come out to the counter-protest.

“I’m not used to having a united LBGT community,” Simone Russ, a 15-year-old student at Walter Johnson said. “It shows how many people are willing to stand up to hate.”

Even students from Sandy Spring Friends School, a Quaker school in Sandy Spring, joined the counter-protest. Heather, a student at Sandy Spring who declined to give her last name, said 39 students traveled Tuesday afternoon with four chaperones to support the Churchill community.

“We wanted the love to drown out the hate,” Heather said.

A Montgomery County police spokeswoman said there were no issues reported to police from either the Winston Churchill protests in the afternoon or other protests at Rockville High School in the morning.

A group of student counter-protesters pose for a picture after the counter-protest Tuesday afternoon. Credit: Andrew Metcalf