Help Bring a Gay Play to the Westboro Baptist Church

After being shocked by the Westboro Baptist Church the first two or three times, we've long realized that the hate-based travelling family circus is nothing more than a recurring cold sore on the mouth of common decency. (They're always showing up when they shouldn't! And no amount of over-the-counter Herpecin-L is going to make them go away any faster.) With each new media stunt (most recently protesting the 100-plus victims of the Joplin, Mo., tornados), the WBC manages to further embed itself within the abject trenches of hate while simultaneously desensitizing its national audience to their particular brand of "controversy." Simply put, how do we react in the face of such sloppy, undiscerning, cluttered hatred?

Pay them a visit!

Lisa Lampanelli recently pledged $50,000 to the Gay Men's Health Crisis, $1,000 for each WBC member that showed up to protest her show in their hometown of Topeka, Kan. Now, Vermont playwright James Lantz would like your help in taking his antihomophobia production, The Bus, from the Off Broadway 59E59 Theaters (where it will be premiering in New York City) to Topeka. Lantz, in an email sent to the WBC, writes:

I'm a playwright and I wanted to let you know that I'm bringing my
play about religion and teen homosexuality to Topeka that I intend to
produce as close as I can get to your church. The play is called The
Bus and I will be bringing it to your area, respectfully -- it is,
however, a play that goes counter to what you preach. My play speaks
to the challenges gay teens face when they encounter intransigent
religious views on homosexuality.

If Lantz reaches his goal of $87,500 (roughly 10% of which has already been raised), the play will travel to New York City this summer and Topeka in November. The WBC, never one to turn down publicity, has already offered to help out with the staging. Please, aid us in sending a little culture their way! (Donations start at $1.)

Previously > Bebe Zahara Benet's Queendom