Westboro plans to picket today, Friday

Westboro Baptist Church, a radical anti-gay and anti-Semitic religious group based in Topeka, Kan., is planning to picket several sites in Spokane today and in Coeur d’Alene on Friday.

In some cases, the educational or religious institutions to be picketed are planning alternate events to divert attention from the Westboro pickets, who have gained national attention by shouting offensive remarks and carrying insulting signs at funerals for victims of violent homophobia and U.S. military war casualties.

The Westboro website says the group plans to picket today at Gonzaga University, Moody Bible College, Whitworth University, Ferris High School and Eastern Washington University, and could be picketing the Jewish synagogue Chavurat HaMashiach this evening. On Friday, the group plans to picket at Coeur d’Alene and Lake City high schools and at North Idaho College.