People gathered outside Temple Emanu-El, in Providence, mount a spirited counter-protest when the group from Kansas stages its demonstration there.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

Hundreds of Rhode Islanders turned out on street corners Friday in opposition to the anti-gay, anti-Jewish message of a tiny group of demonstrators from Kansas.

More than 300 students from East Providence High School crammed one corner of the city’s busiest intersection, at Taunton and Pawtucket avenues, as school let out. Some gripped neon-color signs supporting homosexuals. During the school day, students also wore yarmulkes to support their Jewish classmates.

At another corner, an estimated 100 people, including high school alumni, gathered, holding signs such as “Teach Love, Not Hate” and “Our Giant Signs are Better than Yours.” One even had a pink bunny suit on with “I Love Boys” written on his belly.

On a third corner, five members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., carried epithet-laden picket signs, denouncing homosexuality and declaring, “America is doomed” for tolerating gays and Jews.

Various counter-protesters chanted — “Go Home” or “Gay is the Way” — and for a short time the shouts unified in obscenities.

“I know a lot of gay people in my family,” freshman Jayden DeCosta said. “It’s anybody’s right to do what they want.”

A heavy police presence kept the groups on their respective corners. No incidents were reported and the Kansas group left 40 minutes after it arrived.

School Supt. Mario Cirillo said he was proud of his students’ “peaceful and responsible response” although he and other school officials had asked the nearly 2,000 students to walk by the protesters silently.“This is what I spent 42 years in the military to protect — their right and the kids’ right to demonstrate,” said Lonnie Barham, a retired Army colonel and the school district’s chief operating officer. “I’m very proud of our students.”

The Kansas church first got national attention in October 1998 for protesting at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay man from Wyoming who was beaten to death. They have claimed that American servicemen and servicewomen have died because the nation is doomed.

Shortly after their appearance in East Providence, they were met by a couple of dozen counter-protesters at the commercial center by Brown University’s campus, at Thayer and Waterman streets in Providence. There were also 14 city police officers on hand.

“I disagree with their movement, and don’t think it’s appropriate,” said Sampson Hampton, 17, of Pawtucket. He carried a sign quoting the Bible and said, “They are using the Bible to fight us, so we’re using the Bible back.”

And at the Jewish Community Center, at the corner of Elmgrove Avenue and Sessions Street in Providence, another two dozen people were on hand.

“I came to see what bigoted people look like,” said Ken Schneider, a member of Temple Emanu-El in Providence and an organizer of the East Providence Coalition. “I thought I would invite them to my house for Shabbat dinner.”

Andrea Katzman, who grew up in Kansas and moved to Rhode Island 10 years ago, said it wasn’t the first time she had encountered the group. She said its founder, Fred Phelps, came to her community on occasion to spread his message. “It’s so sad,” she said. “They are broken souls.”

Helen Kagan, who visited Berlin a year ago, said, “They are saying terrible things about many people. They are just agitators and Nazis.”

Several Rhode Island organizations responded to the picketing plans of the Westboro group by holding an Internet fundraiser for the Gay Straight Alliances at local high schools and colleges. Youth Pride Inc. executive director James Robinson said www.Phelps-a-thon.com “demonstrates that the forces of hatred can be denied and converted to good.”

Multiple clergy also criticized the group, stating that the Kansas church’s beliefs were not representative of the churches in Rhode Island.

“Their depraved message is one, that God hates everyone, except them of course,” said Pastor Ernie Robillard, of First Baptist Church in East Providence, in a statement. “It is a travesty that they distort biblical teachings in such a manner as they seek to offend the Jewish, Christian and military communities. Clearly their dogma runs contrary to the Christian faith …”

After leaving the Jewish Community Center, the Westboro group stopped at the State House and two synagogues on the city’s East Side. At each venue, they were again met with counter-protests.

“Where in the Bible does it say that you could come to Providence and hate on us,” one young man yelled at them near Temple Emanu-El. “We love you, though.”

At Temple Beth El, the Kansas group was met with signs declaring love, peace, and “Honk 4 Equality.” Police Chief Dean Esserman was at the temple and said no incidents had been reported to his officers.

–– With reports from staff writers Richard C. Dujardin and Maria Armental

apina@projo.com