PALO ALTO, Calif. (KCBS) -- Dozens of students and community members came out in Palo Alto this morning to show support for a counter demonstration at Gunn High School.
KCBS' Matt Bigler reports
The counter-protestors spoke out against a group of demonstrators from a controversial Kansas church group, that has made a name for itself by demonstrating at military funerals and using anti-gay and anti-Semitic messages.
The given reason for the Westboro Church protest at Gunn was a spate of teen suicides at the high school. However, the dozen protesters held inflammatory signs, sang songs, and shouted anti-gay and anti-Semitic slogans.
The small demonstration of Westboro Church members from Kansas was dwarfed by the wall of counter-protesters from all over Silicon Valley.
Sarah Phelps from Westboro told KCBS they are here to deliver a message about the cluster of teenage suicides at Gunn.
“These children have been lied to their entire lives,” she said. “They’ve been lied to by their parents. They’ve been lied to by their teachers. Now, a little bit of truth is seeping in, and they are raging like wild animals about it.”
Many students at Gunn said the message was inflammatory and hurtful. A junior at the school said he does not understand why the church group is here.
”To me, it’s just ridiculous,” he said. “They just seem like one giant joke, like you couldn’t even argue with them, because they have no reasoning. It’s just craziness for me.”
Another former Gunn student told KCBS it was important for him to exercise his free speech rights in this situation. “If they have that right, that doesn’t mean we don’t have our right to say that’s not cool. Go away.”
Police were on hand to keep the peace, and classes were delayed for one hour this morning, because of the protest.
The Kansas protesters also planned demonstrations in San Francisco and at Stanford University.
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