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By Gwen Aviles
Members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church protested Sunday in front of two black colleges and universities in Atlanta about the politics of transgender student admission schools.
WXIA-TV, an affiliate of NBC, reported that Kansas-based church protesters had appeared in front of Morehouse College, the country's only exclusively male black college, ahead of the graduation ceremonies of the day. 39; school. Morehouse announced in April that transgender men would be allowed to enroll in school for the first time in 2020.
In the typical Westboro way, the group held offensive signs while protesting, including a phrase saying, "God created you, man or woman, be happy and obey him." However, they were largely eclipsed by the announcement of philanthropist Robert Smith that he would pay 2019 student loan debt for Morehouse graduates.
After demonstrating in Morehouse, protesters went to his sister school, Spelman College. The fully female-only school announced in 2017 that, as of the 2018-2019 school year, it would admit all students who identified as women, regardless of their gender to the birth. At the time of the announcement, Mr. Spelman had indicated that even if he would not accept transgender men, he would allow students who pass to a man while they are already enrolled to continue their studies at school. In 2018, Keo Chaad O'Neal became the first transgender man to graduate from the historically black college.
The Westboro Baptist Church also reportedly protested a Spelman student organization called Afrekete, which offers "a safe, creative and liberating space for students from across the spectrum of the LGBTQIAA + community and their allies".
WXIA-TV reported that Westboro protesters protested during their last stop at Clark Atlanta University, another historically black university. The group said that he had had problems with one of the school's speakers, Dr. Ken Walden, who, according to the group, believed in lies about "Jesus Christ and His word. "
The Westboro protesters have a notorious reputation for hate speech. The Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center both described the group as a "hate group".
"WBC is known for its harsh anti-homosexual beliefs and the raw signs its members wear during their frequent protests," says the WBC on its website. "Westboro Baptist Church is arguably the most hateful and rabid hate group in America."
Westboro protesters have already protested against college LGBTQ policies. After the church protested at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 2013, for "promoting an FG program," more than 500 students and community members organized their own counter-protest. Westboro members also demonstrated at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas; Pomona College in Pomona, California; and the University of Pittsburgh.
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The Associated Press contributed.
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