On Wednesday March 3rd, my friend Bridget and some of her friends are staging the “Westboro Baptist Church Counter-Protest” to celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriage in Washington, DC.
“I got the idea for the event when I was looking around the web and saw that someone had organized a counter-protest of the same church’s protest of my former high school and the Holocaust Museum in Richmond. I couldn’t believe how many people were involved (over 200!) and it really inspired me that so many people were coming together to take a public stand against this hate group,” said Bridget.
She assumed that only her close, politically left-leaning friends would be interested in attending the counter-protest, but The Sexist (from Washington City Paper) blogger Amanda Hess heard about Bridget’s event and linked to the Facebook page in a blog post.
“I know using ‘funny signs’ to combat a hate group seems a little silly, but it actually speaks to (what I perceive as) the goals for the event. The members of the Westboro Baptist ‘Church’ are clearly insane. There’s no need to try to counter their insanity with logic or try to engage them politically,” said Bridget. “I hope the use of humor and funny signs will show everyone just how absurd their message is. Laughing at them and encouraging others to do the same seems like a more effective way to deal with their hateful message.”
Yesterday, Bridget asked me how she could promote her event beyond the Facebook event page and the City Paper link.
Some easy ways to publicize the event, especially at the last minute, would be to sign up for free event-promotion websites like Eventbrite and Upcoming. She can use Paperless Post to design invitations and e-mail them to her friends. Some people even use Craigslist to publicize events.
Bridget’s event was already listed on Washington City Paper, but she might want to reach out to other local websites and newspapers. Many local news and entertainment sites have pages devoted to event listings, and they attract readers looking for events. If she’s feeling ambitious, she could even try contacting The Washington Post.
Bridget could also contact local bloggers. DCist, Wonkette, and DC Concierge are three popular DC-centric blogs. A quick Google search for DC blogs (she could even search for gay rights blogs) will turn up a lot of results. Using blog-specific search engines like Technorati and Google Blog Search can help her find bloggers who are writing about DC-related things.
Most bloggers, especially on more popular sites, will list their contact information. Then, Bridget would have to craft a creative e-mail (press release style) and convince the bloggers why they should devote a post to her event. They probably frequently receive e-mails from PR people so Bridget should really focus on making sure her e-mail stands out from others.
Anyway, I wish Bridget the best of luck. If you are in the DC metro area on Wednesday, you should join her counter-protest! I can guarantee you will have a good time.
Said Bridget, “I just want the gay couples who are getting married on Wednesday to know that, save for a couple of crazies, the district is on their side and supports their love.”
(Photo by Burstein!)
AMAZING! thank you so much!!