Students In D.C. Combated Westboro In A Truly Amazing Way

When the Westboro Baptist Church arrived on their campus on March 21, students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.,  chose to respond in a truly beautiful (and musical) way. 

Last week, Westboro members had vowed to picket the high school, as well as the nearby Francis Cardozo Education Campus, starting at 7:30 a.m. Monday. 

Parishioners offered a muddled incentive for the protest in a March 16 press release , noting, "Some rich and famous folks got some schools named after them. The children thereof are entitled to some truth! Westboro Baptist Church is honored and duty bound to be of service." 

They continued, "God hates fags and fag enablers, God has ALL power." 

But Duke Ellington students, as well as, D.C. council members Brianne Nadeau and David Grosso , staged a colorful counterprotest against Westboro, which is known for its vehemently anti-LGBT views . Images of the scene appeared all over social media throughout the day on Monday.

Grosso shared the following snapshot, which showed the crowd of counterprotesters, on Twitter:

At one point, the crowd broke out into a chorus of "Amazing Grace," drowning out Westboro's anti-LGBT catcalls.

Meanwhile, Nadeau told DCist that she wanted to "support our LGBT students and to show them they're always welcome" with her appearance. 

"Hate has no place in the District, let alone in our schools, and I was proud to be part of the overwhelming community turnout in opposition to these protesters," she said. "Today the voices of love and acceptance drowned out the voices of hate."

She also tweeted the following set of images: 

Rather than being vexed by the counterprotest, Westboro members tweeted the following, somewhat passive-aggressive image:

Still, we applaud the students for standing up to hate in a creative way. Bravo!