Photo by Kevin Harber.

Photo by Kevin Harber.

Update: Georgetown President John J. DeGioia issued a statement on Facebook praising students’ “exemplary commitment to our community’s values of inclusion and civil discourse.”

I am deeply proud of our students–especially the members of our GU Pride group–for their exemplary commitment to our…

Posted by Georgetown President John J. DeGioia on Monday, April 27, 2015

Original:

The Westboro Church is scheduled to picket outside the gates of Georgetown University at 4 p.m. But more than 1,300 people already have plans to let them yell into the wind as they attend a solidarity event being held on another part of campus.

“Instead of having a counter protest, engaging with the Westboro Baptist Church, and giving them any power over us Hoyas, GUPride will be having a solidarity event in Red Square during their entire protest,” reads the Facebook invitation. “Having an event that celebrates Georgetown’s diversity in a loving and inclusive atmosphere is the best way to counter the hate speech generated by the few WBC protestors who will be coming to the event.”

Students also started a crowdfunding campaign and organized a fundraiser for later this afternoon with the goal of raising $100 for every minute that WBC plans to protest—$3,000—in total. The funds will be donated to LGBTQ groups Casa Ruby and The Trevor Project.

Westboro plans to picket in “religious protest and warning” for half an hour at the Catholic university, before bringing their message to the White House at 5 p.m. Members of the church, which is categorized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, will also picket the Supreme Court and the Pentagon tomorrow. Westboro’s protest of D.C.’s Wilson High School last year was largely drowned out by a huge gathering of students and community members that came out to counter with messages of love and acceptance.

A different group railing against homosexuality, the Official Street Preachers, already showed up at Georgetown this afternoon and was escorted off campus. An OSP member claimed not to know about the planned protest and called the Westboro Church a “fake Christian group,” the Georgetown Voice reported.

Filed Under: georgetown university, protests, westboro,