From the moment high school principal Pete Cahall grabbed a
rainbow flag and marched through a crowd of cheering
students, it was clear that the attempt to deter his school
from hosting gay pride events was backfiring riotously.
Several hundred pupils from Woodrow Wilson high in north-
west Washington DC were joined by parents and students
from neighbouring schools on Monday in a spirited counter-
demonstration against a small group of pickets from
Westboro Baptist church in Kansas.
But it was Cahall's decision last week to come out and reveal
his own sexuality to students that catapulted the event from a
familiar clash with an extremist Christian group – notorious
for seeking to provoke attention – into a very personal and
unusually powerful moment of solidarity for the suburban
public school.
“I have hidden in the shadows, but I am liberated today to be
me, and let myself be me without fear, retaliation or
consequence,” Cahall told a Pride Day assembly on
Wednesday . “I feel safe and want all of my students and staff
to be and feel safe.”
And despite homophobic epithets on a dozen Westboro
placards around the corner, at least 10 times as many defiant
messages of inclusiveness greeted the headteacher as he
appeared again on Monday morning at the counter-protest.
Westboro Baptist church member from Kansas explains why
she is holding up offensive placards outside a DC high school
which hosted a gay pride event.
“I wonder if we can arrange for another hate group to come
in the fall because it's a really great community bonding
experience,” said history teacher Jonathan Shea.
Elias Benda, a 17-year-old in 11th grade, agreed: “It's a
unifying factor and a lot of people who wouldn't normally
rally on the side of gay rights have come together.”
Westboro first targeted Wilson – a diverse school in a city
with the nation's highest percentage of same sex couples –
when its students formed a Gay Straight Alliance club five
years ago.
But its picket caught the school by surprise and only led to a
small counter protest.
This time, student groups had warning and enlisted support
from DC mayor Vincent Gray and the two candidates to
succeed him: Democrat Muriel Bowser and openly-gay
independent politician David Catania.
Cahall has thanked both students and local politicians for
giving him confidence to speak openly about his sexuality and
backing the school's efforts to promote inclusion.
“The critical factor for me as the principal has been that I
have been inspired by my students,” he said in his speech at
Wednesday's event.
“To date, I have not made this declaration because I did not
want my kids to think of me differently or not respect me.
Those fears were obstacles in my mind because of the culture
of when and where I grew up.”
The small group of around 15 Westboro activists insisted they
would continue to target educational institutions around the
country despite the apparent unifying effect its presence has
had in Washington.
“High schools and colleges, particularly, are important
because these young minds don't have a hope in hell. They
are the lost generation,” said Rachel Hockenbarger of Topeka,
Kansas.
But she rejected criticism that the group's language and
message was inappropriate outside a school.
Rachel Hockenbarger of Westboro Baptist church says it
targets schools like this because "these young minds don't have a
hope in hell".
“Do I think it's offensive? I don't care if it's offensive,”
Hockenbarger told The Guardian. “There are no hate signs in
my hands. These signs have the word hate on them, but we
are talking about God's hate, we are not talking about human
emotion. God's hate means that if you don't repent of your
sins, you are going to hell.”
The two groups were kept apart by a heavy police presence
and both demonstrations passed peacefully, with staff
intervening to keep students largely out of sight of the
separate Westboro protest.
Big police presence outside Washington DC high school today
keeping small anti-gay picket from Westboro Baptist church away
from large and spirited student counter demonstration following a
gay pride event at the school.
"Five years ago the counter protest was very much a spur of
the moment thing," said Shea. "This time we knew they were
coming in advance, a student group started making the
counter protest a big facebook thing, and the administration
got involved to make sure it remained a calm event: uplifting
for the people who want it to be uplifting but also not one
that involves any violence."
Wilson's history teacher, with the school for 20 years, said
the Westboro protest had helped cement the school's values
publicly.
“We want to make sure we are here for everybody, and we
want to make sure that everyone feels love and support,"
added Shea. "That's one of the things I've loved about this
school for a long time but this just puts a very public face on
the fact that we really do embrace diversity.”
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