In the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, in a popular LGBTQ nightclub in downtown Orlando, the bloodiest massacre in recent US history saw the deaths of forty-nine club goers and the hospitalization of fifty-three more.
As the family and friends of those slain in the attack prepared to bury their loved ones, word came that members of the anti-gay protest group, Westboro Baptist Church, were planning to demonstrate at the funerals.
Unwilling to allow the families to be put through any further pain and suffering, a group of Central Floridians gathered together and brought back an idea with a history going as far back as the funeral of Matthew Shepard: with help from the Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s costume and set department, this group of people would dress as angels to keep the protesters away from the true funeral and allow the families peace.
With huge white linen wings, they screened the funeral procession and proceedings from the small handful of the forty-member Westboro Baptist Church protesters. To further shield the funeral goers from the slur-filled signs of the WBC, other counter-demonstrators held up a huge rainbow screen in support of the LGBTQ victims of the massacre.
The sight of these guardian angels and other counter-demonstrators rallying in support of the fallen was captured and shared on social media posts around the world.
After OPD Officers escorted Westboro protesters off the funeral scene, here's what the crowd did: #OrlandoUnited pic.twitter.com/eQdKjDqrGT
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 18, 2016