M-A Counters Westboro Protest at Gunn

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Written by Kate Reardon

On January 29, five protestors from Westboro Baptist Church arrived at Gunn High School with a mission:  to spread God’s message to Gunn’s student body, which has recently dealt with the suicides of four students.

The Westboro picketers, bearing signs that read “God Hates Fags” and “The Lord is Coming,” were soon drowned out by raucous renditions of “Amazing Grace,” “Let It Be,” and “This Little Light of Mine” as over 250 students, parents, and teachers united on the other side of Arastradero Rd.

On Wednesday, February 10, M-A juniors Hannah Rosenfeld and Evan Weiner decided to stage a protest of their own, letting Gunn students and the community know that “we don’t support that kind of bigotry and intolerance.”  The pair recruited fellow students, excused themselves from their 6^th period classes, and filled the Gunn quad with a circle of cross-legged M-A Bears, many of whom were clad in decorated t-shirts bearing “M-A Supports Gunn” or “No Tolerance for Intolerance” on the front.

“We wanted to raise awareness of these issues,” says Weiner.  “People know they’re happening, but they have a tendency to get swept under the rug.”

Though the Gunn students appeared initially confused, several of them joined the circle and accepted extra t-shirts from the M-A crowd, even exchanging Facebook information to catch up later with newfound friends.  One Gunn student, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, “It shows support for us… It’s really nice that they came.”

M-A junior Michael Culhane explains that he was “here to support Gunn High School after all that they’ve been through in the last few months… to tell them that M-A is on their side, and that we’re here to help them.”