Westboro Baptist Protests at Apple HQ

A counter-protester with a direct approach.
Photo: Taken at Cupertino High School

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested at a local high school and outside the corporate headquarters of Apple, Inc. in Cupertino, CA this morning.

According to the group's website (godhatesfags.com), the protest was scheduled to last from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. and intended to coincide with a planned memorial service for Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Surprisingly, and to my disappointment, when I arrived on the scene at 9:30 a.m., the pathetic handful of placard-wielding hatemongers had already dispersed.


I was sorry not to meet the WBC face-to-face, though if I had, I'm not sure how I would have addressed them. In recent days, I contemplated the most effective options for confronting WBC protesters - Logical argument or religious debate? Creating my own hateful placards and yelling angry obscenities? Gentle but firm nudging with the front bumper of my car? All tempting approaches to be sure.

I ultimately concluded that there is no way to confront the WBC and win. Because of their demented belief that they are literally the chosen few, handpicked by their God to deliver his hate-filled message, they cannot be reasoned with, persuaded, or even insulted. The only way to defeat the WBC is to refuse to confront them, to dismiss them and wait patiently for them to die off one by one. Recognizing that ignoring them is likely the best tactic, I realize that just by showing up and paying attention to them, I conceded defeat. So be it.

Counter-protester with a religious appeal.

I came to meet the WBC here in Cupertino, if for no other reason than to let them know that they cannot go about their business of hating people unopposed.

As it turns out, there were dozens of counter-protesters who felt the same way.

The less than ten WBC members who flew in from Topeka were greeted by counter-protesters who outnumbered them about 10 to 1.

Straight-forward, I suppose.

I interacted with the counter-protesters, many of whom mingled a while even after the WBC left.

Some of them were gay, some not. Some were college-age folks (whose placards took an antagonizing approach equal to that of the WBC), and others were like me, middle-aged and more subdued.

All of us showed up for one ultimate reason though - to let the members of the Westboro Baptist Church know that they don't speak for us, or for our God, whatever we conceive him to be.

In the end I failed to meet the devil today. I was a few minutes late, and the devil apparently had a plane to catch. I did make some new friends though, and in the paraphrased words of my friend Jane, despite occasional evidence to the contrary, I got firsthand confirmation that there are still more "nice people than f*cking idiots" in the world.

My new counter-protester friends Cara and Coco.