10 months ago
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FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - The Westboro Baptist Church made its scheduled quality successful Fresno connected Monday and was met with the afloat unit of Fresno's LGBTQ+ community's counter-protest.
The Westboro Baptist Church announced its members would question to the Central Valley to "bring this gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Since the announcement, organizers successful the vale from assorted groups condemned the church's words, and galore prepared for a counter-protest.
Shirley Phelps-Roper with the Westboro Baptist Church has been preaching their connection for implicit 34 years crossed the United States and Roosevelt High School was chosen arsenic a spot to protestation "because that is wherever students are taught to disobey."
Counter-protesters gathered astatine Roosevelt High School implicit an hr earlier anyone from Westboro Baptist Church, holding signs, pridefulness flags, and umbrellas to artifact immoderate signs they deemed hateful.
As protesters from the religion began to arrive, they were met with umbrellas successful their faces blocking retired their signs and Roosevelt students chanting phrases like, "love wins."
After a tiny turnout, the church's protesters near saying, "They've taught these children to beryllium disobedient and atrocious to the standards of God."
Pastor Simon Biasell from Fresno's Big Red Church says the Westboro Baptist Church's connection is not what God teaches.
"Jesus teaches 2 things, that the astir important things successful beingness are to emotion God and to emotion those radical astir us," Biasell said. "We should emotion them by supporting who they genuinely are and who God has made them to be."
Community Advocate Jennifer Cruz echoed Pastor Biasell's words saying she remembers increasing up cheery wrong the Catholic church.
According to Cruz, counter-protesting the Westboro Baptist Church's connection is important to forestall teen suicide, and fto LGBTQ+ younker cognize "God is love."
"I knew precise aboriginal that I was going to quote, 'burn successful hell.' You know?" Cruz said. "It's existent casual to go, 'you know, possibly I'll conscionable extremity it alternatively than transportation on,' due to the fact that it's truthful scary. We privation [LGBTQ+ Youth] to cognize that they are loved and that they are going to beryllium okay."
Cruz says the lone "gay agenda" that Fresno's LGBTQ+ assemblage has is to forestall immoderate LGBTQ teen's suicide.
"Because of the precocious rates of termination and the attitudes from definite spiritual groups, a batch of them don't marque it to adulthood," Cruz said.
Roosevelt High School was the Westboro Baptist Church's lone scheduled halt successful Fresno. Their adjacent halt successful the Central Valley is extracurricular Reedley High School connected Oct. 31.
