Voltaire once said (and I'm paraphrasing) "I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". And I consider that true. Free speech is the cornerstone of our society and I feel that everyone should be able to say what they like. But that said I can also exercise my right to free speech and plan to do so by going out to silently protest the Westboro Baptist Church who will be in Des Moines today to protest gay marriages. Yeah I'm protesting the protestors.
About a month ago the Iowa Supreme Court found that it was a violation of civic rights to deny marriage to homosexual couples. This makes Iowa the third state to allow gay marriage and I couldn't be prouder of my state. Last monday the first weddings took place. A week later Westboro Baptist Church, based out of Topeka, Kansas, is coming to protest. For those who don't know this is the church that was protesting at military funerals because the war is (and I'm using their words not mine) "God's punishment for homosexuality". So basically these people are crazy. I thought about posting a link to their website so you could read their blather but really, I don't want to promote this kind of hatred and intolerance.
My sisters and I have decided to silently protest the church's protest. I'm taking my lunch hour to grab sandwiches and sit down at the courthouse. It should be interesting, if not informative. I'll try to post an update after the event. Wish me luck.
Update: No protesters, no scenes. Apparently no one from Westboro showed up. Instead I had a lovely lunch with my sisters at the foot of the capitol. Sorry Em, woke you up for nothing.
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Not nothing, it was lovely to see my sisters. They did protest at Lincoln and had quite the turnout from those opposed to what they had to say. They had to temporarily shut down SW 9th for crowd control. Watch the papers.
I read the article in yesterday's papers. It looks like over 200 people showed up to counterprotest. Great to see. And more than anything it was a peaceful protest on both sides. Sorry we missed all the action but it was wonderful to see you. Hope you managed to get enough sleep.
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