The Portland Trail Blazers-Orlando Magic game on Saturday, Jan. 10 is bound to be an interesting one, folks. Instead of fans coming in to witness the likes of Damian Lillard, Tobias Harris and LaMarcus Aldridge in peace, people will also receive an earful from the gay-hating Kansas crazies from Westboro Baptish Church. (Yes, the same organization that was shown up by Baylor students in 2012.)
The Blazers, of course, became the first NBA team to support marriage equality in October of 2013, making them an easy mark for these “people of faith.”
The church announced their plans to protest via news release on their site. As you can see below, whoever wrote this unbiased memo clearly nailed most of the necessary characteristics for a quality press release. Let’s break it down!
Power headline:
Analysis: “F*g pushing,” definitely not a phrase you usually see in a headline—unless you are already a member of this church. Way to make that headline pop for all the unbelievers, Westboro Baptist!
Contact information:
Analysis: Necessary stuff in case they recruit some boneheads who would actually enter that URL into their browser.
Make the group’s position known:
Analysis: In case “f*g-pushing” didn’t do it for you in the headline, here’s a declaration of the Blazers supposedly rustling the feathers of one Jesus Christ, then hammering it home with a Bible verse.
Impressive stuff, though I must say the single-spaced lines are a killer for my eyes. Oh, and the whole usage of excerpts from the Bible to mold a hate agenda…can’t forget that.
[H/T to NBA Reddit; Willamette Week]
Christian Petersen/Getty Images
