A small but potent gesture against hatefulness

Did anyone else catch the way in which people worked to prevent the Westboro Baptist Church despoiling the funerals of those who died in the attack in Orlando. Various approaches were used, but the one that I found most – I don’t know, affecting, was the third photo down where as the caption notes: Counter-demonstrators dressed as angels block the view of Westboro Baptist Church protesters near Leinonen’s memorial service outside the Cathedral Church of St. Luke.

The brilliant way in which they physically blocking the WBC and prevented that outfit from making a desperately bad day worse, for the friends and relatives and allies and well wishers of the lgbtq people who had died, is remarkable. As quoted on Slate.

If the protectors had an elite force, it was the angels: around a dozen people dressed in white with oversize wings made of cloth and PVC pipe on their backs. It was they who took the front line when four members of WBC finally piled out of their vehicle, placards in hand, just after 10:15. Until the Westboro contingent’s arrival, the protectors had maintained a relatively reverent, subdued tone; now, they snapped to attention and the mood grew tense. “The relevant question of the hour,” one of the WBC representatives called out: “Why did God destroy Sodom?” Cries of condemnation rang out in response, but some in the crowd reminded others that WBC exists to provoke—and often sue—counterprotesters. So the approach shifted to song. Strains of “What the World Needs Now Is Love” were eventually replaced by one of the most painfully gentle renditions of “Amazing Grace” I have ever heard.