letter to the Chronicle

I’d like to express solidarity with the organizers of the protest against the Westboro Baptist Church demonstration (Cambridge Chronicle, 3/19/09). Any decent person—irrespective of the debate on gay marriage—recoils at Westboro’s harassment of high school students and their protests at military funerals with signs rejoicing in the death of American soldiers as divine retribution for America’s tolerance of gays.

I’d also like to point out that Westboro is a non-partisan offender; they have been universally denounced by all parts of the political spectrum, including, among many others, conservative radio/television hosts Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. The issue Westboro raises is not conservative vs. liberal politics, but common decency vs. hate-filled demagoguery.