U. of Wyoming Secular Students vs. Baptist Church

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Today was absolutely hilarious. It started around 1100 MDT when this religious group called "Shawn the Baptist" set up camp in the middle of Simpson's Plaza outside of the Union and began spouting the usual intolerant condemnatory vitrol. I tried to avoid this particular square for about an hour, but eventually I had to bike through it. By this time the bible-thumpers had attracted the attention of the Secular Student Alliance, who began a counter-protest around 1200 MDT spouting scripture from (I s**t you not) the Church of the Flying Spahgetti Monster. It's now 1600 MDT and they're still out there yelling at each other, with a couple campus 5-0 trying to keep the peace.

W. I. N.

Sounds like fun. You should have taken pictures and posted them.

Doesn't sound quite as much fun as the whole Matthew Shepard nonsense I had to watch when I was there.

This guy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

Blown out of proportion gay rights crusade? Do tell!

Well, those of us who were there and got both sides of the story from people in the general community that knew more than the press chose to report made it clear it wasn't some "hate crime."

In spite of the murderers' own statements, they ignorantly thought that saying they killed a guy for being gay would get them off after they were caught.

They didn't consider that Wyoming has some of the toughest sentencing laws for homicide in America and that it hosts some of the most gruesome murders in America. In fact, the year Matthew Shepard was killed, there were (IIRC) eight other murders...all of which made his murder look like a mercy killing in comparison. None of which got national coverage in the media. Few even got regional coverage.

They also didn't consider that Laramie, Wyoming is perhaps the most liberal and "gay friendly" area (if you can even say that in a state that pretty much has a "live and let live" attitude) in all of Wyoming. That card wasn't going to get them off the hook in even the least "gay friendly" area because beating a person that badly then leaving them tied up to die of exposure would offend most any Wyoming resident.

The story nobody really heard....


Sadly, Shepard knew he was HIV+ and he had a drug habit. He was in to a local dealer for over $1,000 and did not pay up. The murders were the "enforcers" for this dealer. They used the "gay" angle to get him out of the bar and take him someplace to do the deed.

The whole gay factor was their way of trying to get out of being convicted when they were caught. As far as criminals go, these two guys were about as smart as a box of rocks. The judge who presided over the case could not get over how idiotic these guys were.

Of course, you can believe whatever version you want, but again, the special interests liked to make Laramie, Wyoming look like some backwards sexually-repressed place where this happens all the time, and it's just not so. There were other factors going on that were more directly causative for Shepard's death than what was told to the media.

Trust me, one of the former deans of the law school was a lesbian, and it was not such a big secret around town.

I take your word for it, but what I still don't get it is how the nonsense you had to watch is funnier then Biblethumpers versus FSM

Some of the stuff that came out of that bordered on the insanely ridiculous.

Westboro Baptist Church and the likes being chief among them.

zer0netgain is right. I thought that the whole Matthew Shepard thing was about him being gay, but that was before I moved to Laramie and got a different story from the friends I've made. There's actually quite the large BGLTQ (or however you say that) group on campus, and most of the people I've met are very tolerant. It seems like people don't really mind your personal life, so long as you're a friendly person. Western hospitality trumps Southern, and I should know, having lived in Memphis before becoming a pioneer (as my friends back East like to put it).

By the way, if you guys havent seen the article in the campus news, it's here: Conflicting groups protest - Branding Iron Online

Note the black guy in the KKK uniform. He did that to spoof the Baptist people, and to get a laugh out of the bystanders. Unfortunately the 5-0 didn't think it was funny and asked him to take it off after a while.

Never been to the USA but if I ever go there, i'll keep this in mind, thank you.

I had a good laugh.. again! a black guy in KKK uniform, briliant!
If I believe the comment from one 'Chris' at the bottom of the article, then the guy had it coming.

That was pretty much it. Seriously the guy needs to take a chill pill.

On the Jewish/Muslim note that Chris mentioned in the comments, there is a pretty large population of Muslim students here at UW, and from what I've heard they get along well with everyone else. Most tend keep to themselves a bit, but none of them strike me as the extremist bomb-a-synagouge Muslims portrayed in the media. Which just goes to show you that if anyone should be labeled as a religious extremist, it should be idiots like Mr. Shaun the Baptist here. I'd LOVE to be the TSA official who stops him at the airport because he ends up on the no-fly list. XD