Counter Protests
LGBTQ+ students – along with Muslim students, Jewish students, and other marginalized groups - have been frequent targets of evangelists and other groups who come onto campus. In response, many students over the years have come together to counter protest these groups. It also has been a way for students to create community. Most commonly these are conservative and/or fundamentalist Christian groups, typically telling students that they are going to hell.
Arguments
Students frequently engage in debates – moral and theological – with these groups. The article “Visiting Evangelists Create Heated Disputes on Campus” is a prime example of that. Some students think that the people come to campus and harass students just to get reactions – which is an even more prominent idea now, as many of these people record students who interact with them. Despite this, students still engage with them, typically about religion or politics.
Police presence
These events often attract police attention. However, despite their presence, they do not take action. The people who come onto campus are protected by free speech – despite saying many things that go directly against university policy.
University Action
George Mason has repeatedly brushed over these issues. They have only really acknowledge these people to note that they are protected by the First Amendment – without acknowledging the university policies against hate speech, including homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, and antisemitism.
Community
The most important part of these counterprotests is the community that students form through them. In 2006, the Pride Alliance brought a pride flag and placards saying “God loves us all” to the counterprotests against evangelists.
“[T]here would be times where groups of students getting very angry and engaging, you know conflictually was what the students chose to do. Sometimes it was, I can remember one time where it was sort of like they did a hug-in, where students sort of surrounded the where the speaker was, blocking off the rest of the campus from having to see them, but they were sort of holding each other, and then there were times where students would come out and bring guitars, and sing, and try to drown them out with music and fun and dance, so protest looked interestingly different over the years” - Ric Chollar Oral History.
Students have continued to find community and joy even through the verbal harassment from these groups. As recently as April 2025, students have worked to make visual representations of queer community, as well as making music at these counterprotests. Students frequently bond at them – the preachers have inadvertently helped create tight-knit communities in the students who interact with them – frequently, the same students show up repeatedly.
Ric also talked about students alerting people on campus to the graphic images often used by anti-abortion protestors and suggesting alternate routes around campus to avoid them. While it is not so formal now, many students let each other know who and where these people are so they can choose to counterprotest or avoid them as they feel comfortable.
Westboro Baptist Church
One notable counterprotest was against the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) in 2009. The Westboro Baptist Church is a famously homophobic church, and had come to Mason in 2009 to protest Pride Week. Many students, faculty, and those from the community came out to protest – far outnumbering those from WBC. This counterprotest was especially successful – the WBC has not been back to campus since. It was planned out well before by student leaders and staff at the LGBTQ+ Resources Center, and the students raised money for organizations that helped LGBTQ+ people across the street from the WBC group – raising over $500.
