In the District, members of the Westboro Baptist Church conducted a protest outside American University Friday and were met by a counter rally attended by hundreds of students that looked to mimic a more famous rally conducted last year on the National Mall.
The AU students called their demonstration the Rally To Reaffirm Sanity. If that sounds familar, it's because the Rally To Restore Sanity was held last year on the Mall by Comedy Central hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Friday's rally sought to channel that spirit, according to Johnathon Lipton, a freshman who helped organize the event.
"We together decided that ... it was a great title because we're a university that prides ourself on how politically active we are," he said. "It's just really is a testament to our goals and core mission as a student body here."
The students listened to a capella music on the lawn in front of the Kogod School of Business, with many others watching the rally across Massachusetts Avenue in front of the Katzen Arts Center.
They were told to ingore the four members of the church that showed up to protest the school. And for the most part, students did, with a few turning their backs on the protestors, who stood in a roped-off area right in front of the school's main gate.
But the signs students carried did not ignore the church. Some of the radio friendly ones included "God Hates Figs," "God Hates Hoyas" and "God Hates Signs."
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For the church, it was their third protest of the day in D.C.
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