Is Westboro Baptist Church Coming to Corvallis on Sunday?

According to this flyer on the Westboro Baptist Church website (and yes, the church’s URL really is GodHatesFags.com) the church (more accurately called an anti-gay hate group) is coming to the memorial service for a fallen soldier on Sunday. The memorial for 24-year-old Cody Patterson, a U.S. Army Ranger who died in Afghanistan is 2 pm Oct. 20 at the LaSells Stewart Center in Corvallis. A quiet counter-protest is planned according to a Facebook event page.

Update: here are the instructions for the protest via the the organizer Joseph Hedburg’s Facebook event page.

Alright everyone, gather around, take a knee, and listened up. First of all I want to thank each and everyone of you for joining this cause, I appreciate your enthusiasm for it and to support the family of the fallen soldier.

Second, I will be in the front of the ticket office of Reser Stadium at noon but probably 11:45. You can meet up with me and the others there. I will be wearing blue jeans, a black coat, and a Miami Dolphins ball cap. I’ll be holding an American flag too. WBBC is going to be there at 1:15, I’m going to gather intel with a few connections I’ve made over the years to see if we can block these people sooner.

Third, these people are jerks and with that they’re lawyers and have powerful lawyers. DO NOT, I saw again DO NOT, let their hateful words, signs, or manner provoke you. They tend to have their own children at these protests, DON’T EVEN REPLY to them. This is a peaceful demonstration and if they’re the ones shouting and making a scene let them get escorted away. Don’t stoop to their level hurling the hate back. I’ve lived in this community for seven years, this is my second home, and I will not accept their hate and intolerance here, and you shouldn’t either.

Lastly, for now, if you have an American flag please bring it. I want to raise the flags to block their hateful signs from the families sight. If you don’t have an American flag don’t stress, hopefully some people have multiple, I have 3, so ill lend two out. If you have any more questions, comments, or concerns you can post them here or send me a private message. I learned three important P’s when I was in the Military: Polite, Professional, and Prepared (to Kill). We will stick with all three minus the kill part.