Westboro Baptist Church, the fringe-of-the-fringe anti-gay group famous for protesting at military funerals and claiming that God is punishing the country for its tolerance of homosexuality, was spotted this morning protesting outside Sidwell Friends, the school attended by Sasha and Malia Obama.
Protesters were carrying signs with anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-Obama slogans, slowing down traffic all along Wisconsin Avenue this morning.
One member, Megan Phelps-Roper, posted a picture on Twitter of the protest.
Westboro Baptist Church, founded by Fred Phelps and made up mostly of Phelps family members, has garnered national attention for carrying signs such as “Thank God for 9/11” and protesting at funerals, including that of Matthew Shepard, the student who was killed in 1998 because he was gay.
They believe that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as well as the ensuing wars and even the mass shooting last week at Fort Hood, are punishment from God for tolerance of homosexuality. They plan to picket the Fort Hood memorial service this Tuesday.
The group, which is not affiliated with the Baptist church, protests nearly every day in Washington, D.C., rotating around the city. According to their web site, today they plan to hit a few more local schools and the White House, and will be at the Sidwell Friends Lower School tomorrow afternoon.
“Quakers?! Are you frigging kidding me? You pretend to be all non-violent, and you allow the most bloody, deceitful, evil, murderous bastard and his shemale sidekick to place their satanic spawn within your four walls?” reads the posting for today’s protest at Sidwell Friends, which is a Quaker school.
The school has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Randall Terry, the extreme anti-abortion protester, has also arranged demonstrations outside the school.
Late update: Ellis Turner, the associate head of school at Sidwell Friends, tells TPM the school took no action to remove the protesters, who were across the street.
“We support the First Amendment here, so there was nothing we wanted to do about it,” he said. “There was nothing they did other than offend those who didn’t agree with their bigoted viewpoints.”
Although the school has seen occasional protests over the years, Turner said, this was the first time Westboro Baptist Church had picketed there.
