I'm a white, middle-class woman - probably one of the least-likely candidates to be targeted by a hate group, right? Wrong. I'm also an American Soldier - and unfortunately there are people out there who hate the military so much that they actually hope for our deaths.
I had the misfortune of seeing the Westboro Baptist Church's highly vocal protesters outside the front gate of our Army Post. We knew they were coming - in fact, every Soldier on Schofield Barracks and neighboring posts received a briefing the Friday before. The briefing detailed what NOT to do if we had a run-in with Westboro members, who they were and what they stood for, and why we couldn't do a darned thing about their presence.
Led by an anti-homosexual, anti-military, anti-normal man named Fred Phelps, members of the Westboro Baptist Church travel the country in order to spread their gospel of hate. They set up shop near military installations, places that openly cater to homosexuals, any other location where they feel they can make an impact. They even have the gall to show up at military funerals and disrupt the services which are intended to honor a fallen hero.
Several members of Westboro Baptist Church are attorneys. That's bad news for people who get too riled up at their protests; they actually want you to scuff them up so that they can sue you - that's where they get the money for their plane tickets, their food, and their mortgage payments.
When Westboro came to Schofield, we were instructed to ignore them. "Use a different gate; if you do happen to drive by them, don't even look."
Naturally, that was too much to ask.
We wanted to see the spectacle and get pictures; after all, what were the chances of seeing that many idiots grouped together in one place? Usually you come into contact with the occasional idiot here and there - but this was an idiot bonanza, and we weren't going to miss it for the world.
They were scheduled to arrive at 1:00 p.m., so we got there at 12:30. There was a group of military members, their spouses, and their children gathered en masse on one corner of the road. Many were holding signs with smart little quips like, "My Daddy fights for your rights to be a jackass" and "Many Soldiers have died for your right to stand here."
The corner across the street was filled with local church members holding huge signs with scriptural quotes and positive, encouraging words. One man even held a sign that said, "Lord, forgive Westboro Baptist Church for they know not what they do."
A few minutes past one, about a dozen people came marching up with angry looks on their faces and carefully covered signs. When they stopped on their own corner and got ready to protest, you could literally feel the hate emanating from the group. The Honolulu Police Department was there waiting (and taking pictures with their camera phones) for the trouble that was almost sure to ensue.
An older woman - I'm assuming she was Mrs. Phelps - tied the corner of an American flag around the top of her massive calf. Just the corner. The rest of the flag was draped down so that she could trample it beneath her foot as she paced back and forth like a snarling hyena, shouting "God hates America."
They unveiled their signs amidst gasps from us (and even the police). A little boy, somewhere around six years old, held one up above his head: "Pray for more dead Soldiers." My stomach turned; I saw another sign that read "Thank God for IED's" and one that said "God hates Hawaii."
Now, I'm not at all religious. Even so, the whole idea behind their protests is way off. They claim that God hates homosexuals; they say that He hates the military because we defend a nation who allows homosexuals to live in peace. What are we supposed to do - run around lynching homosexuals? That's incredibly ridiculous.
The entire group is extremely homophobic. Although we weren't supposed to talk to them, I couldn't resist telling a woman who carried a sign reading "God hates Fag Enablers" that I didn't think she had anything to worry about - no lesbian in her right mind would hit on her.
A friend of mine suggested to one of the women that if they had been to Iraq, if they had only seen what weve seen, they wouldn't be out there holding up those awful, hate-filled signs. She asked, "You've been to Iraq?" When he replied in the affirmative, she asked, "How many women did you rape over there?" Of course his answer was none - and she proceeded to call him a liar and a "faggot."
I took around fifty pictures that day, although I don't need them to visually recall the horrifying spectacle that's going to be etched in my mind forever. As much as flag-trampling disgusts me and my fellow Servicemembers, the Westboro Baptist Church is (and should be) allowed to do it. The worst part? We'd die for their right to keep up their insanity.