The Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket American University next Friday, January 14th (PRESS RELEASE: http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/20110105_American-University-DC-Jan-14.pdf). 

I encourage you NOT to respond to this group’s hatred with more hatred — not with negative words, acts of aggression, disrespect, or anything to give this group exactly the kind of attention they want. Instead, commit yourself to a positive transformation of hate into love. Show them what God’s love — or love in general, regardless of any religious convictions — is really all about.

God Loves Poetry (http://godlovespoetry.com/) is a movement that uses WBC’s press releases to create black-out poetry. The idea is to take messages of hate and transform them into messages of love, hope, and support. I’m going to be creating my own black-out poem from the AU press release and displaying it around campus. If you feel inspired, please go ahead and create your own! Or if you’re interested in designing posters, hanging posters, and generally getting this positive message out over the next week, use this event as a way to make connections and get involved.

American University students understand that there is no place for this kind of hatred on our campus. Let’s work together to create love out of hate.