Hundreds of DC High School Students Counter Westboro Baptist Protest

Hundreds of students from DC's Woodrow Wilson High School have turned out Monday morning to counter a planned protest by Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.

The notorious church is known for its extreme ideologies, especially those against gay people.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church are in DC to protest Wilson High School's celebration of Pride Day. The group posted information about the protest on their Web page Monday morning, starting out by saying: "Wilson High, we've got one simple question for you...Why did God destroy Sodom?"

Westboro announced its intentions to protest at the school before Wilson principal Pete Cahall’s coming out announcement last Wednesday.

Westboro said the school and its students “should be hanging your heads in shame” for organizing its Pride Day event. The principal, 50, said he made his surprise announcement during the event because he was "tired of hiding."

“I want to say publicly for the first time because of your leadership, care and support that I am a proud gay man who just happens to be the principal of Wilson High School," he told students. He was met with an outpouring of support from the community, including from D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.

The high school encouraged students not to break the law during Monday's counter-protest: "This group aims to provoke counter protesters to break the law so that the group can sue those individuals and/or the school.  Do not become a victim of these tactics."

Members of the Wilson Gay-Straight Alliance and Student Government Association organized Monday's counter-protest.