Is this a legal way to counter-protest?
The Westboro Baptist Church may be coming to Iowa any day now, and I am planning on counter-protesting them when they come. My idea was to get a huge banner (probably just a plain black one), and use it to completely block off their message (basically put it in front of their signs and in front of them, but not physically touch them). Is this legal?
I know that shouting someone down is legal, and this is sort of the same thing, so I think it is. But I want to be sure. I've heard that these people know the law pretty well.
Answer:
There is a book that you should check out, "Guerrilla Marketing" by Caplin(?) He ran a video store chain that went head to head with Blockbuster. His advertizing techniques included advertizing on bus stop benches in front of the Blockbuster stores, challenging the legality of their signage (exceding city imposed size limits) and other tactics that might be helpful.
Another nice touch would be to gather your friends and block the enterances like the pro-lifers do at abortion clinics. Remember to yell things like, "You don't have to go in there" or "Think about what you're doing." Also, don't forget the handheld signs "God
Loves EVERYBODY."
molotov cocktails..
actually i'm just kidding but it should be legal and if you do just say i wasn't violent and blah blah freedom of speech and stuff
curious as to why you are protesting a church?
As the police. They're the one's who would arrest you if you broke the law.
And for the first post: It's more of a cult than a church.
The best thing you can do about the Westboro nuts is to ignore them. Serious;y avoid confrontation with these people. They make the majority of their money by suing people that confront them. I'm interested as to why they are coming to your community. They mostly protest at military funerals. The Patriot Guard Riders have done a good job at shutting them down at that game. The Guard attends the funerals at the request of the families. The Guards response to the Westboro people is they stand in a flag line around the family and funeral with their backs turned and ignore the protesters.
The thing that Ferd Phelps and his group want most is confrontation. This accomplishes two things for them 1) gives them an audience for their hate filled rhetoric 2) gives possibility of creating a scenario where they can sue someone. One of the church members is a lawyer and brings all the suits for the church.
http://www.patriotguard.org/
Ask your local authorities, maybe if they have the proper permits and you don't, you could be breaking the law.
The best protest you can do, however, is ignore the douches. They are attention whores.
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