As comic Tom Segura gives $10K to Trevor Project, here are 7 other times Westboro Baptist Church protests backfired
The sight of anti-gay protesters from Westboro Baptist Church late Sunday outside his show at Topeka Performing Arts Center prompted standup comedian Tom Segura to pledge to donate $10,000 to the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ suicide prevention group.
Segura announced on Instagram the donation prior to his show.
Here are seven other times Westboro Baptist Church protests have backfired.
The search for Spock
WBC protesters proved unable to picket the 2015 funeral of Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy because they couldn't find it, The Guardian reported. "The church posted a Twitter update lamenting its inability to picket the event, which it said was due to a lack of publicity over the location," that website said.
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Phelps-a-Thon
An LGBTQ+ rights group, Driving Equality, raised more than $4,600 through a "Phelps-a-Thon" it held in 2008 as WBC protested a production at the Boston Center for the Arts of the Laramie Project, a play illustrating reactions to the 1998 murder of openly gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard. Donors pledged online to contribute for every minute WBC protested.
Eggs, stones and water bottles
The Associated Press reported about 1,000 counter-protesters threw eggs, stones and water bottles in 2006 at WBC members who were picketing in Seaford, Del., in conjunction with the funeral of Marine Cpl. Cory Palmer, who had died from injuries suffered in Iraq. Five people were charged with crimes that allegedly victimized WBC members.
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A human chain
About 200 people in 2016 formed a human chain to block the main street in downtown Orlando, Fla., and counteract WBC picketers who came to that city after 49 people were killed and 53 more wounded at a gay nightclub by a gunman, whom police then shot to death. More than two dozen police officers stood between the picketers and the rainbow-adorned assembly, the Washington Post reported.
Pennies in Protest
More than $14,000 was donated in 2010 to a group called Pennies in Protest, which took pledges for each minute WBC members picketed as they protested against Jewish and LBGTQ+ organizations in Richmond, Va. The money was then donated to those same organizations, Mother Jones reported.
You should be dancing
The rock group the Foo Fighters publicly mocked WBC members as they picketed last August outside the venue where they were about to perform at Bonner Springs. Dressed in white jumpsuits as their comic disco alter egos, the Dee Gees, the band rode up on a a flatbed truck. A video that was subsequently posted on YouTube showed lead singer Dave Grohl telling the picketers they should be dancing, not hating.
'It takes all kinds'
The Foo Fighters also mocked WBC picketers in September 2011 outside the venue formerly known as the Sprint Center, where they were about to play in Kansas City, Mo. A video subsequently posted on YouTube showed the band performing a song containing references to homosexuality in front of the picketers on a float pulled by a truck. In the midst of the song, Grohl temporarily stopped singing to make a spirited call for tolerance and equality. "It takes all kinds," he said.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: These anti-gay protests by Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church backfired
