The Westboros Baptist Church has a protest planned at Wrigley Field on July 21st, 2009. It is my hope that letting the Daily Kos be aware of this will allow for an appropriately sized (and civil) response to the bigotry that would be present.
Unfortunately, this isn't going to be a hugely substantial diary, and I apologize for that. I'm more relaying what I've heard about, and figured my fellow Kossacks would be some nice people to know about this. Also forgive the relative roughness of this; I'm not quite used to the whole "public announcement" business.
For those of you/us who are unaware as to who Fred Phelps and the Westboros Baptist Church are, I will refer you to stories posted here by Mikey, and Reepicheep. If you look through the Kos archives, or across the web, you can see many other examples of the hatred and intolerance put forth by this reactionary group. I will also direct you to an article by Nate Phelps, who talks about his father's bigotry and intolerance, and very aptly describes what this person is putting into this world.
As stated in the intro, on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009, at Wrigley Field, Chicago, members of the Westboros Baptist Church will be protesting a concert put on by Mr. Elton John. This sort of bigotry is, unfortunately, permitted under our constitutional rights; however, it is also within our rights to make sure that such speech is given an appropriate and civil response. At 6:30 to 7:30 PM (US Central Time), a counter protest is being planned. A grand display of human sympathy and tolerance would go a long way to making sure that this sort of hatred does not take root in my city.
I will add in more information as I become aware of it, but feel free to post anything that you feel would be useful for people or would be important to know. I'll be sure to add to the article and properly attribute it.
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For those who need help finding it, the address for Wrigley Field is:
1060 W Addison St
Chicago, IL 60613
A event listing organizing for the protest on Facebook is located here. It might be helpful for people trying to find rides or transportation, or friends who will also be attending the event.
I am including a link to the Chicago Transit Association for those of us who will be using public transit to get there.
Because of the time frame of this (mid evening), I am also going adding a link to the Chicago Restaurants & Dining Page for people who would be looking for dinner afterward.
Have fun, and remember: bigotry cannot stand the light of tolerance and respect for humanity.
Update 1: I know its probably a little early to update this, but wanted to add a few little things before heading to bed:
* Added a poll to help get an idea of how many people might be showing up. Obviously a little early for concrete numbers, but it'll be cool to watch this thing build up to something fun.
* Contacted the former president of [one of my local high school's] Gay-Straight Alliance. She'll be talking to people to see if they can go. Feel free to contact anyone and everyone about attending this. Parties are fun, especially if they're for a good cause.
* Article cross-posted on Chicago IndyMedia. Poorly. Apparently the two sites have different ideas as to what full HTML is. Rather frustrating, but no matter.