PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KAN -
Hundreds of Shawnee Mission East High School students turned out on Thursday afternoon to protest a group from the controversial Westboro Baptist Church there to protest the students.
The church has gained nationwide attention for protesting the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that the deaths were God's judgment for tolerating homosexuality in the United States.
About a dozen members of the church were there to protest the school for electing a gay prom king last November.
"They demonstrated when they elected that king-queen thing for a prom king last year that they didn't have a clue," said Westboro Baptist Church member and protester Shirley Phelps-Roper.
The protesters from the church were met by around 500 students from the school who said that they would not ignore the hate standing across the street.
The former prom king, Mathew Pope, who is now a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, returned to the area this morning to join the counter-protest.
"I wanted to come back and make sure that everyone was doing this in a positive light," said Pope. "The outcome is tremendous."
The students turned their protest into a fund raiser for AIDS research, passing around a bucket that raised a couple of hundred dollars in less than an hour.
The church has gained nationwide attention for protesting the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that the deaths were God's judgment for tolerating homosexuality in the United States.
About a dozen members of the church were there to protest the school for electing a gay prom king last November.
"They demonstrated when they elected that king-queen thing for a prom king last year that they didn't have a clue," said Westboro Baptist Church member and protester Shirley Phelps-Roper.
The protesters from the church were met by around 500 students from the school who said that they would not ignore the hate standing across the street.
The former prom king, Mathew Pope, who is now a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, returned to the area this morning to join the counter-protest.
"I wanted to come back and make sure that everyone was doing this in a positive light," said Pope. "The outcome is tremendous."
The students turned their protest into a fund raiser for AIDS research, passing around a bucket that raised a couple of hundred dollars in less than an hour.
