Controversial anti-gay group Westboro Baptist Church is expected to picket Santa Monica High School between 7 am and 8 am Monday morning.
Earlier this month, the Kansas-based group announced a handful of its members would picket outside Samohi to “tell students the Gospel truth which their parents, teachers and preachers try desperately to hide from them.”
“We will give your children an opportunity to see what truth looks like, the face of what they were entitled to have from every adult that ever touched their lives,” reads a news release on its website. “You brutish teachers and hateful parents have broken the moral compass of this generation, teaching rebellion with everything you say and do.”
SMMUSD School Board President Laurie Lieberman said she wanted to assure the community that the District was aware of the situation.
She said administrators had been working with the Santa Monica Police Department on a plan for the Feb. 25 picket, should it actually occur.
“The plan will certainly include a police presence,” Lieberman said. “As always, student safety is our priority. The District will be working to ensure that our students are not only safe, but that a protest, should it occur, will not interfere with the school day.”
Westboro Baptist Church members plan to picket at three Malibu locations (Malibu Presbyterian, Waveside Church, and Our Lady of Malibu) today, Feb. 24 before heading to Hollywood to picket outside the Academy Awards.
