Groups Decide Not To Counter Westboro Baptist Church's Protest at Gomes' Service

Student organizations that have protested the Westboro Baptist Church in the past plan to ignore the group’s picket in Harvard Square this morning, according to student leaders from Harvard College Queer Students and Allies and the Harvard College Democrats.

The WBC’s picket is in protest of the memorial service being held in honor of the late Reverend Peter J. Gomes, who served as the minister at Memorial Church and the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals for 35 years.

Gomes—who was openly gay and a prominent advocate for equality—has frequently been targeted by the WBC over the years. The Kansas church, which protests what it describes as America’s support of homosexuality, is best known for picketing military funerals with homophobic signs and slurs.

When the WBC picketed Harvard in the past, the QSA and the Dems’ counterprotests have drawn crowds of hundreds of students in response.

Religion Professor Diana L. Eck conveyed the sentiment that this time, it would be better to ignore the WBC, and the Dems were glad to oblige, according to Dems Communications Director Christine A. Hurd ’13, who is a Crimson Arts comper.

“She thought that because they weren’t going to be allowed on Harvard property, it would just take away from the memory and just feed their propaganda,” Hurd said.

Hurd noted that the circumstances surrounding this WBC picket differ from past protests. The church has protested organizations such as Cambridge Rindge and Latin’s gay-straight alliance and Harvard Hillel.

As this picket detracts from Gomes’ service, student organizations were less inclined to counterprotest, Hurd said.

Acting Memorial Church Minister Wendel W. “Tad” Meyer said that Memorial Church did not ask student groups not to protest.

“Our response was enormous sadness,” said Meyer of learning about the WBC’s plans to picket. Meyer said that he had been in touch with the Harvard University Police Department, which assured him that the picketing would not affect the service.

Despite not demonstrating on this occasion, QSA Co-Chair Marco Chan ’11 said he still believes in the value of counterprotest when it comes to the WBC.

“Whether we counterprotest or not, they’re going to be people that walk by and see the hate and the kind of messages they are spreading,” Chan said. “Ignoring it doesn’t make it disappear.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Worland can be reached at jworland@college.harvard.edu.