Westboro Baptist Church picketed neighboring school Oak Park High School on October 1, 2015 because a transgender student, Landon Patterson, won homecoming queen.  Westboro sent information ahead of time alerting student officials of their plans to picket, and students then sprung into action. 

 “It might be legal for Westboro to protest, but that does not make it right. They have nothing to do with the high school, and they are just a bunch of kids. They have no reason to be picketing there, and they are bringing unnecessary hatred. I don’t think they realize that this can maybe cause this poor kid a lot of pain. Honestly, the Westboro church frustrates me with everything they do,” senior Celeste Meyer said.

 Oak Park developed a policy for how they would handle the situation. The school decided that it would be best that parents and students would not fight back, but that they would ignore the protesters. The school made sure that they kept the peace while Westboro protested at the school. Oak Park High School Student, Stephanie Brocato, shared some of the major details of how the school handled the protesting.

  “The day started out pretty good, everyone was getting ready for the protest, and the principal was busy making sure everything was going according to plan. They made sure all the police officers showed up and everything else. The school was on lockdown for most of the day to make sure no one left, and to keep everyone safe,”  Brocato said.

  Oak Park was as prepared for the picketing as they could be, but some were still a little fearful of what might happen.

  “To describe how it affected our school, I mean people were scared. They didn’t know where it would happen or if the protests could turn violent, and I was a bit scared myself,” Oak Park senior Maddie Russell said.

 The protest only lasted about 15 minutes and only six people from Westboro showed up to picket. No one was injured or harmed. 

Links to check out regarding the story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXZLkTtGIw0

Interview with Oak Park students who protested

Video of protesters leaving 

http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/hundreds-rally-to-support-kc-transgender-homecoming-queen