Local Jewish Community Prepares for Westboro Baptist Church Protests

Date: October 20, 2009

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), a virulently homophobic, anti-Semitic group composed mainly of members of one family, planned a series of protests in San Diego in October. The Jewish organizations in the community were brought together at a meeting by the Anti-Defamation League and the United Jewish Federation to discuss a response. The San Diego Police Department was in attendance and committed to providing safety and security. ADL strongly encouraged all institutions to ignore the demonstrators because their primary objective is the generate media attention and provoke individuals into confrontations that would lead to the arrests of counter-demonstrators.

Initially the WBC website showed only one day of demonstrations (October 16) which included seven sites. By October 5th, the list had grown to 29 demonstrations at 24 different sites during a period of 4 days starting Friday, October 16th. Of the 29 demonstrations, 14 were at Jewish institutions, three were at La Costa Resort and Spa where AIPAC was holding their National Summit, two were at high schools, and 10 were at churches of different denominations. Members of ADL’s Inter-Agency Security and Safety Committee (IASSC) were at each of the protest locations to monitor the event and be available as a resource. After each protest members of the IASSC sent detailed reports with pictures to the ADL.

ADL also contacted each of the non-Jewish institutions on the WBC’s website to let them know that their institution had been posted on the website as a site for the upcoming demonstrations in San Diego. All institutions were given ADL’s backgrounder on WBC as well as ADL’s Responding to the Westboro Baptist Church pdf file. All the organizations, Jewish and non-Jewish, were very grateful for the information and support that ADL provided them. We received numerous e-mails and phone calls thanking ADL for their recommendations, support and presence.

Most of the WBC teams were comprised of three to six adults with two or three children. They always remained on public property and stood on the busiest intersection they could find closest to the target institution. They always brought children with them. While they spoke they knew that ADL people were present and addressed Regional Director Morris Casuto directly. There were counter protesters at some of the sites, including Chabad of La Costa, San Diego High School, La Costa Resort and Spa, Rock Church, St. Stephen’s, and Rancho Bernardo High School. There were no incidents besides arguing, shouting and obscene language and signs.

Our office sent out a press release explaining what the WBC is and ADL’s recommendations during this series of protests. We also offered interviews or additional information on the WBC. Interviews to the media were given by Morris Casuto and other members of the San Diego Regional Office staff to the following media outlets: San Diego News Network, San Diego Gay and Lesbian News, Channel 8 (CBS), Channel 7 (NBC), Channel 10 (ABC), Azteca America, and San Diego Jewish World.

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a small hate group that considers itself an "Old School (or Primitive)" Baptist Church but is not affiliated with any official Baptist associations. WBC’s leader is Fred Phelps and most of its membership consists of the extended Phelps family.