NEW ORLEANS — Members of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church are reportedly making their rounds in New Orleans today, and when they got to Loyola University, they were greeted by a much larger group of counter-protesters.
The roughly half-dozen members of the Kansas-based group picketed outside of a Jesuit Mass at Loyola for about a half-hour. They say the Loyola’s academic leaders are “a pack of wolves” and that the school’s teachings promote “homosexuality, evolution, the Big Bang, and free will.”
But their cries were largely muffled by counter-protesters like Lindsay Wiggins, who said Loyola provided her a great education.
“I just think it’s wonderful for everyone to turn out, in this time of division in our country, to show support for one another, and that we all love each other and we’re here together,” she said. “Loyola was a great institution of learning for me. Hopefully more people will take the opportunity to learn how to think, and know what to think.”
The Westboro Baptist Church is known for its contentious protests, particularly their picketing of military funerals. They’ve been labeled a “rabid” hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The group said it also planned to also picket the National Association of Mental Illness conference at the Sheraton on Canal Street and Herzing University in Kenner.
