“Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”

This is our state motto and, believe it or not, Iowa has a pretty solid track record of living up to it. We removed racial barriers in relation to marriage a hundred years before the Supreme Court removed such barriers nationwide. We moved to end segregation in education eighty-five years prior to the Court’s ruling on Brown v. the Board of Education. The University of Iowa was the first public university to admit men and women equally starting in 1847 and Tinker v. Des Moines would affirm a student’s right to political protest in public schools in 1969.

And on April 3RD, 2009 Iowa would become the third state in the United States to allow same-sex marriage.

Fast forward to next Monday. A hate-speech spewing group of people will be visiting our state to protest the production of The Laramie Project by the University of Northern Iowa. The play, which consists of interviews and observations conducted in the wake of the 1998 murder of Matthew Sheppard, with and of his community, is often used as a teaching tool to promote acceptance and prevent prejudice. Ironically enough, the group is actually mentioned in the play.

I, however, refuse to write the name of the organization.

Over the last couple weeks I have seen multiple people across social networks mentioning counter-protests of the hate group. I have received event invitations to participate in counters. I have read more and more criticisms of the group and I have seen acceptance and open-mindedness on the raise.

And while I forever support your right to protest and while I’m impressed and happy to see our state live up to an ever-more progressive stance, I can’t help but question what a counter-protest will accomplish.

This group feeds on media attention. They depend on it to continue existing. They crawl from location to location in hopes of local media exposure. They shout horrific obscenities and taunt those around them. They pray someone will harass or physically attack one of their members — they rely on the civil suit money to continue promoting their agenda.

I would advise another solution. Attend the play if you can. Support the art community.

And ignore the hate group.

Don’t give them any attention. Don’t waste your time thinking about witty signs or shirt designs. Don’t give them another thought.

Or show up and turn your back to the group. Don’t make a huge spectacle of the night. These people are petty. They are a distraction and their only goal is to take away from what the night’s focus should be on, which is equality and social tolerance.

In the past large communities have banded together in counter-protest and driven members of the organization away with just the power of their voices. You can find cases of this yourself because they are well-documented on the web — on youtube, blogs, and wikipedia. And that’s just what the group wants. More exposure. Even if you win, you lose.

Everyone loses until these people are long forgotten.

It’s just a thought…

More information about UNI’s production of The Laramie Project, including ticket prices, can be found here.