Hundreds of Texas A&M students gathered this week to form a human wall around the funeral service of a soldier to protect his family from Westboro Baptist Church protesters.
Texas A&M alum Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale was killed on June 28 during a training exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C. Tisdale had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the days after the soldier's death, word spread that Westboro Baptist Church members were planning to protest Tisdale's funeral.Described as a "homophobic and anti-Semitic hate group" by the Anti-Defamation League, Westboro Baptist Church regularly stages protests around the country.
When Ryan Slezia, a former Texas A&M student, heard of the group's plans, he hatched a plot to foil their efforts. "In response to their signs of hate, we will wear maroon. In response to their mob anger, we will form a line, arm in arm. This is a silent vigil. A manifestation of our solidarity," he wrote on Facebook, inviting others to join him in a peaceful protest. On Thursday, as Tisdale's funeral was held at the Central Baptist Church in College Station, Tex., hundreds of students and alumni responded to Slezia's invation, linking arms to create a human barricade surrounding the church's entrance.
Most wore maroon -- A&M's school color. One participant tweeted that over 650 people showed up, creating a formidable "maroon wall." “We are standing here quietly. We are here for the family,” Lilly McAlister, a Texas A&M student, told KBTX.com. "We are positioned with our backs to them. Everyone has been told there's no chanting, no singing, there's no yelling anything back."
The hundreds gathered were prepared for a potentially aggressive confrontation, but the protestors from Westboro Baptist Church never showed up.
