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Small Town Residents Fend Off Westboro Baptist Church Bigots
Photo by SnapShot Boy via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Residents of Yucaipa, a small town just east of San Bernardino, recently banded together to fend off the asshats that call themselves the Westboro Baptist Church, according to NBC Los Angeles.
A group of locals caught wind of the fact that church members, who are known for holding signs at military funerals that read "God Hates America" and "God Hates Fags," were planning to picket services for 20-year-old Yucaipa resident Pfc. Nathan Tyler Davis. Davis died when a roadside bomb went off near where he was stationed in Afghanistan.
According to a press release from the church's website, "Military funerals have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy...soldiers are dying for the homosexual and other sins of America."
When neighbors found out what Westboro was planning, though, they rallied together. Assemblyman Paul Cook issued a press released calling on citizens to "show [Davis'] family the best of Yucaipa by supporting his sacrifice and commitment to our freedom." Hosts of local radio show "Stu, Tiffany and Jimbo" on KCAL-96.7 also encouraged their listeners to take part in protesting the church's planned picket.
In the end, the church members never showed up. Whether they stood down in the face of reason and sanity, we may never know. But we do know that this was a shining moment in the history of Yucaipa.
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