Counter-protesters responded last Thursday to a threat from the Westboro Baptist Church to picket a Dutchtown, Louisiana performance of The Laramie Project, the play about the Matthew Shepard murder, with a demonstration 500 people strong. The WBC never showed up, but someone else did:

"One protester, Anthony Battaglia from First Baptist Church in Gonzales, wound up facing a crowd of about 500 counter-protesters alone. Battaglia said while he doesn’t agree with Westboro’s methods, he does agree with the church’s view of faith, a faith that sees homosexuality as wrong. 'I don’t see myself as fitting on either side, but I can’t stay in the middle,' Battaglia said. Counter-protester the Rev. Clinton Crawshaw with The Big Easy Metropolitan Community Church out of New Orleans, replied that Battaglia had picked the wrong side. 'You know you have to choose a side — hatred, or love,' Crawshaw said."

Students created a video of the counter-protest. Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...