July 3, 2013 by David K. Sutton
White House Animated GIF Confirms We All Loathe The Westboro Baptist Church
In five separate White House “We the People” petitions, Americans have voiced their distaste for the disgusting, hateful and hurtful demonstrations by the Westboro Baptist Church.
Remove the Westboro Baptist Church’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and make it retroactive.
Investigate the IRS Tax-Exempt Status of the Westboro Baptist Church
Legally recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group.
There are nearly 700,000 signatures across the five petitions. It seems the Westboro Baptist Church, in its effort to drive a wedge between people, has actually created a common bond among many Americans, and in every state. To drive that point home, the White House created this animated GIF highlighting the ZIP codes of petition signers (who revealed that information).
White House — The darker color indicates a higher percentage of signers for that particular area’s population. While support for these petitions came from all over the country, it was densely clustered in two places that have unique insight into the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church — Kansas, the state the church calls home, and Newtown, Connecticut, where the church threatened to picket the funerals of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary.
I too believe the Westboro Baptist Church is reprehensible, but I also do not believe they should face censorship from the government. That’s the thing about freedom of speech, it extends to all citizens, including the bigoted asshole variety.
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