In Clarence and Buffalo, counterdemonstrators vastly outnumber three members of Kansas fringe group opposed to homosexuality

Counterdemonstrators overshadow Kansas fringe group

By Aaron Besecker
NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Outnumbered more than 50 times over, three members of a Kansas- based fringe group here to picket a memorial service for a victim of the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 were hushed and eclipsed Sunday by counterprotesters in Buffalo and Clarence.

With many counterdemonstrators wearing white plastic angel wings and others holding large white flags and banners, two efforts by the three from Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., were rousingly overshadowed by the response of area students and residents who gathered because they said they opposed the group’s hateful, anti-gay message.

“We wanted to show people that we don’t put up with that sort of hate in Buffalo,” said Meghann French, a city resident who stood Sunday afternoon on a Main Street sidewalk near the University at Buffalo’s South Campus. “We just don’t tolerate it.”