PLEDGE A PROTESTER

[vdansk]

When I was in Medical school, the local planned parenthood went under seige from a group of bussed in flatlander anti-abortion protesters.  (They couldn't find enough Vermonters willing to picket.)

Planned Parenthood started a fund raiser: Pledge a Protester.  People pledged anywhere from a penny to $20 per protester, and when the radio interviewed the center, they were always extremely nice about thanking the protesters for raising this money to keep them going.

This made Vermonters happy, made the flatlanders look like fools, and must have been awful for protester morale.  From Google, I see that groups from Texas to New York are still doing it.

So I was thinking...why couldn't this be done for the Westboro Church idiots?  Isn't there a good charity--for LGBT teens, or supporting same sex military partners, or for AIDS education--that would like to do this?  Or perhaps several?

Tons of people hate the Phelps group.  Why not harness the anger and disdain into something good?

So, here's where you, my brilliant friends, come in.  Anybody know a charity that would like to do this?  Get me a good one, and I'll pledge a dollar a protester for the rest of 2011.

Comments

[dcltdw]

I recently read about a Harley group that does this. Not my style at all, but their shtick is loud pipes + really large US flags = sound barrier and visual barrier counterprotest.

Me, I'm sorta leery of that much nationalism.

High on my list of Charities I Should Consider Giving Money To On A Recurring Basis are Medicins Sans Frontieres and Heifer International. I have a bookmark about a microloan organization as well somewhere... I think on my work machine.

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If you get more into running, we should do a race together and fundraise for charity.

[chryssalys]

Oh! I love this idea!

There are so many worthy causes. Hard to pick just one, but worth looking into it, for sure.

[reynaud.livejournal.com]

Actually, that sounds like a better idea than my thought: protest the Westboro Church services. My theory would be that if they don't mind disrupting someone else's sacred time, they shouldn't mind others doing the same to them. But this is actually a much better idea.

[yalipump.livejournal.com]

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[boderama.livejournal.com]

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