Feedback: Hell, yes. Beden65
Note: To those who may not be familiar, the Westboro Baptist Church, an independent sect based near Topeka, Kansas, is classified as a hate group known for protesting (among other things) at the funerals of soldiers killed in action, claim that God hates the military for it's acceptance of homosexual soldiers and thus kills them in battle. Westboro Baptist Church was led by the now late Fred Phelps and consists of about 40 members, many of them Phelps family members. They also protest against Jews, praise the terrorist attacks on 9/11, regularity carry signs claiming 'God hates Jews' 'God hates fags' 'Thank god for 9/11' and so on. In 2006 they protested funerals of mine disaster victims, claiming it was God's revenge for homosexuality in America. This is just a very brief introduction to these people, they are nothing if not active.
I am not a fan.
They are rightly protected by freedom speech in the US Constitution.
Enough
It happened again, the announcement released to every media outlet, just as the group had been doing for years now.
Robin, and later Nightwing, would agree to an appearance at something or other, a gymnastics meet, to speak at a high school graduation, show up at a sick kid's birthday party for Make a Wish and the idiots would call ABC, CBS, MSNBC and ever other news agency under the sun then show up to protest—disrupting whatever it was this week.
He was tired of it.
Enough was enough.
He released his own statement:
"I've been invited to become one of the hosts at the Special Olympics competition being held later this week in Denver. This morning I was made aware that the Westboro Baptist Church members have decided to stage a rally protesting my presence, as is their civil right. I understand they will be acting on their belief that I'm currently or in the past have engaged in an 'ungodly relationship' with Batman, as well as several other members of the hero community. Several attempts on my part to contact this group asking them to respect the spirit of the Special Olympics and allow the athletes to be left to compete without unrelated distractions have been unsuccessful. Therefore I would like to issue an invitation to Westboro Baptist and their members to do as they feel may be God's will and to bring their friends.
"For my part, I will personally donate $10,000 for every Westboro member or supporter who shows up to protest at the venue in Denver. Members of the Justice League have promised to match any donation I make, doubling the total. This money will be be split evenly between between the Special Olympics and GLAAD."
The Special Olympics went on as scheduled, security and police keeping the protests away from the participants. Nightwing (along with the JLA) donated a total of $980,000 to the two organizations, as promised.
Two weeks later an equal and matching donation was quietly and without fanfair made by Batman.
Spending a rare quiet evening in his apartment, catching up on his e-mails, Dick Grayson, sent a message to his mentor. "Thanks."
To his surprise a message came back almost immediately. "Creative answer."
Dick raised an eyebrow at the rare praise and half smiled to himself.
5/9/15