This was my favorite moment being a fan of comics.
The Westboro Baptist Church had announced that they were going to boycott San Diego Comicon. They said that we were worshiping false idols (seriously, they were talking about Superman), and that the tolerance of gay people was bring God’s wrath down upon us.
People picketing the con for religious reasons is no new thing, you can hardly walk to the con from a block away without facing someone with a sign. But the vast majority of those protesters are fairly civil and unobtrusive, and for the most part, their message isn’t hateful, not like the creeps at WBC.
They made good their threat. They showed up in a van, and brought out lots of horrible signs. You’ve seen the signs, you know what they say.
People have a lot of weird theories about the WBC but I will say, after studying them for years and having encountered them a couple times, what they care about is press. Lots and lots of press. They knew every news agency had a reporter here for this event, they do every year. And they knew they would get a lot of publicity for their shitty, hate-filled message.
But they really, really misunderstood the cosplayers and fans at SDCC that year.
There was to be a counter-protest. As soon as I heard about it, I knew we had to be there, for sheer numbers, if for no other reason. I blew off a meeting I was supposed to go to and we made it as the counter protest had just been going on for a little while.
This is where the WBC’s plan went all backfire, and it was one of the happiest moments of my life.
There were cops surrounding the counter-protesters. Not to keep us from becoming a mob, really, but to make sure no one attacked the WBC people, because they are famously litigation-happy.
There were very few WBC people, I think I remember four or so. They each held a BUNCH of signs, to blow themselves up like a puffer fish and look like a bigger splash.
They were immediately hateful, screaming and singing hymns where they had changed the lyrics to make them about how gay people were going to hell (but much worse). They looked like nothing so much as Manson family members to me, disheveled and unkempt, like they’d been eating nothing but their own hate for days. Up close, they are extremely creepy…it goes beyond what you see on tv. They just exude hate.
On our side though, we had COSPLAYERS.
And that made all the difference. We had Bender and Jesus from that Kevin Smith movie and Fry and lots of superheroes. And here’s what made it so great.
They met that wave of hate from the WBC, not with matching rage or contempt, but with humor. When the WBC were signing their awful songs, the much bigger cosplay crowd started signing songs back, but with filthy sexy lyrics. It was absolutely hilarious and joyful.
The cops, who clearly were on OUR side, were smiling and talking casually to the cosplayers, complimenting their costumes…the WBC have had several campaigns applauding the death of cops. They got no support from the police at this event.
When the scraggly matron of the WBC started signing about gay people burning in hell, a chant from our side went up.
“What do we want?”
“GAY SEX!”
“When do we want it?”
“RIGHT NOW!”
Someone handed the Bender cosplayer in this photograph a bullhorn. When the WBC lady screamed something foul, he yelled back, “BENDER SAYS BITE MY SHINY METAL ASS.”
Honest to god, I have never been so proud to be a nerd.
And here’s the thing. We beat the WBC. We didn’t just win, we sent them fucking PACKING.
Because they wanted publicity. And they were about to get it, reporters DID show up.
Only, there was a better story, you see. Do the reporters film these unphotogenic and screaming zealots, or do they film the partying, laughing, singing people wearing costumes and having a blast? Do you film the lady with the badly made signs and dirty van, or do you film the cartoon robot cosplayer and the attractive Power Girl cosplayer?
Reporters know what works. They completely ignored the WBC.
And this infuriated them.
We could see them start to act unsure of themselves. Cars were going by honking and waving for us, ignoring the WBC signs entirely. The cops turned their backs, wouldn’t even LOOK at the protesters. The reporters all stopped to ask questions of US, not THEM. And it was something they had never experienced. They were being outgunned entirely.
To be blunt, they threw a tantrum and no one was watching.
And it was the best feeling in the world. Their songs got quieter. Their voices cracked. One of the protesters just gave up and seemed to wander off a bit. The lead screecher lady, her voice finally just cracked in the middle of a chant when she realized not only was no one outraged, no one was even paying ATTENTION.
So the protest, which was supposed to go on all day, ended abruptly. They just got in their van and left. And they looked so defeated, so perplexed, it was ALMOST possible to feel sorry for them.
Almost.
That night, the new all over the world was COMICON ATTENDEES STAGE COUNTER-PROTEST TO WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH and every story I saw barely mentioned the WBC at all.
Hate fought Bender and Bender won.
I was never, ever so proud of comic readers as that day. And this is just one of the reasons that if you start bashing cosplayers in my presence, be prepared to face my wrath, because cosplayers are goddamn awesome.
And the WBC have never come back.
🙂
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