When a soldier dies, it is often seen as the most noble sacrifice that they can give to their

country, but the Westboro Baptist Church has other views. One of the most controversial events

this group participates in is picketing in front of the funerals of soldiers and other important

people/groups. There are always two sides to every story, but the Westboro Baptist Church views

these deaths as the Lord “punishing this evil nation” (Press, Chuck Oxley The Associated). In

general their views are very extreme, such as saying that homosexuals will burn in hell. This may

seem out of the ordinary, given the progress America has made when it comes to social issues

such as sexuality, but there are many people that share such radical beliefs. The Westboro

Baptist Church purposefully communicates dangerous messages about the LGBTQ+ community.

However, both members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies work to normalize gay

relationships and spread positive messages about the community. Beth David and Esteban Bravo,

through their short film “In a Heartbeat,” are some of the queer creators that are actively

working to change perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community and provide support for other queer

people. While the Westboro Baptist Church communicates a message of intolerance towards the

LGBTQ+ community, “In a Heartbeat” represents the community in a normalizing and

validating way via the film’s acknowledgement of ostracization, portrayal of the community,

messages interpreted from their actions, and the use of social media.

One of the differences between the Westboro Baptist Church and “In a Heartbeat” is the

approach to the ostracization of the LGBTQ+ community. The Westboro Baptist Church

promotes their agenda through tactics that instill fear in those who are already insecure in their

identities. The perpetuation of ostracization is an effective tool because it is one of the biggest

fears of those who are anything other than straight. The Westboro Baptist Church presents their

hateful ideologies in such a way that their target audience will feel the pain they have likely
experienced before. Contrastingly, “In a Heartbeat” used the ostracization of the LGBTQ+

community effectively when the looks from the other classmates caused the heart of one of the

boys to break. This made the viewers emotional since it struck a chord in their heart that hurts

dearly. Most people in the community can relate to feeling like they are abnormal, so taking

advantage of that during the sorrowful moments was very powerful. David and Bravo

acknowledge that people are uncomfortable with same-sex couples, but the ostracization is used

in a way that is not detrimental to their intended audience, as opposed to the Westboro Baptist

Church.

The representation of the LGBTQ+ community differs greatly between the two groups.

The Westboro Baptist Church has held over 60,429 pickets in 1006 cities. Many of their signs

are branded with one of their most widely used slogans - “God Hates Fags,” scrawled in all caps

across a multicolored poster. In recent history, the slur “faggot” has been used to demean and

degrade all LGBTQ+ people. This trend has roots in the public executions of homosexual people

around the world going back hundreds of years (“Faggot (N.1).”). The Westboro Baptist Church

staunchly believes that all homosexual people go to hell; thus, “faggot” is one of their most

popular slurs. “In a Heartbeat” is about a boy in school who has a crush on his male classmate,

and the two boys are not portrayed with negative qualities. The innocence of their feelings

normalizes those feelings, causing viewers to find them cute and endearing. Everyone can relate

to these feelings and connect to the characterization of the heart itself. The gender of the two kids

involved does not impact how their feelings are portrayed. The two ideologies contrast because

one dehumanizes the LGBTQ+ community, the other connects to everyone and shows that

people might not be so different after all.

 David and Bravo aimed to make people feel valid via the overt representation of queer

people in “In a Heartbeat,” while the Westboro Baptist Church seeks to put out content that takes

away that validity. Aside from the many protests that this group has been a part of since their

establishment in 1955, they also put out content that is full of prejudiced ideologies. The

Westboro Baptist Church frequently tweets with messages such as “same-sex marriage dooms

nations” (Baptist, Westboro) to their 14.4 thousand Twitter followers and publish parodies to

well-known songs with messages such as “this land is fag land, the raging fag land… this land is

headed straight to hell” (Westboro Baptist Church Parodies) on their website. Additionally, they

send out press releases to large groups of people, typically universities in order to warn them

about a new, dangerous “craze” such as the transgender identity. For the many students who

have never been informed on the matters of different gender identities and sexualities, these

press releases do not allow for the students to learn about the LGBTQ+ community as normal

people. This sharply contrasts with the presentation of a gay couple with friendly faces

displaying healthy and normal feelings of attraction as seen on “In a Heartbeat.” The short film

received 2.4 million views on YouTube on its first day of release, and currently has over 30

million views. The reach of the Westboro Baptist Church online pales in comparison to “In a

Heartbeat,” but they have power in numbers. Their physical presence is directed at those who

oppose their views, making their audience vulnerable and fearful. Even though “In a Heartbeat”

inspires people to make a positive change, the Westboro Baptist Church is actively taking action

against the idea that the LGBTQ+ community deserves representation and respect.

The intended messages that both artifacts set out to communicate are the difference

between their purpose and the reactions they want to elicit from their intended audiences. For “In

a Heartbeat,” the creators were very purposeful in their choice for the story to be between two
boys instead of a boy and a girl. One of the most highly debated topics about media for younger

audiences is if they should include LGBTQ+ representation. A recent example is the backlash

received against the announcement that the character LeFou would be seen as gay in the new

rendition of Beauty and the Beast. Many people boycotted the movie, with the parents refusing

to allow their kids to watch the film because society should “let kids be kids and stop pushing an

agenda,” (CBN.com) and the representatives at Christian-operated drive-in theater in Henagar,

AL refused to show the movie at all because the movie was Disney “premiering their first

homosexual character” (Alexander, Bryan). The backlash received for putting out diverse

content might discourage creators from producing LGBTQ+ content, but as of yet, that has not

occurred. For the “In a Heartbeat” Kickstarter campaign, David and Bravo asked for only $3,000

to get the project completed, and instead received over $14,000. People are constantly looking

for this content, which David and Bravo know from experience, as they are members of the

LGBTQ+ community. The way they felt coming out of the closet and desperately looking for

representation in any form of media they could is a real struggle for not only them, but for many

people around the world. This is a huge part of accepting who you are, so they made the content

that they wished they had growing up. “In a Heartbeat” especially resonated with an audience

that wants to be validated. But groups like the Westboro Baptist Church depict homosexuality as

not only invalid, but against god and belonging in hell. This message instills fear, and even

internalized homophobia, because it perpetuates what queer people hear almost every day. They

do not feel safe with people who actively invalidate their identities. The Westboro Baptist

Church aims to instill fear, while “In a Heartbeat” aims to create hope.

The ideologies of the Westboro Baptist Church and “In a Heartbeat” are completely

contrasting in their views towards the LGBTQ+ community. They use ostracization of the
LGBTQ+ community to get their points across in vastly different ways, with the Westboro

Baptist Church perpetuating the ostracization and “In a Heartbeat” trying to lessen it.

Representation of the community is depicted by the messages, actions, and use of social media in

spreading the ideals of both artifacts. “In a Heartbeat” was produced with the intention of

creating a more safe environment for the LGBTQ+ community and normalizing both same-sex

relationships and queer children. However, the Westboro Baptist Church only aspires to spread

their hateful and ignorant ideology. David and Bravo intended to validate and normalize their

target audience of both the LGBTQ+ community and allies, while the Westboro Baptist Church

instills fear with shock value of deviant ideals. “In a Heartbeat” creates a space to portray the

LGBTQ+ community as normal and valid while the Westboro Baptist Church depicts the

community as illegitimate and unacceptable.

 Works Cited

Alexander, Bryan. “Backlash Grows over Disney's Gay 'Beauty and the Beast'

Character.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 5 Mar. 2017,

www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/03/04/russia-beauty-and-beast-ban-due-over-gay-

character-lefoux/98743116/.

Baptist, Westboro. “‘Mother Nature’ Is a Dumb Idol & ‘Global Warming’ Is a Severe

Understatement. 2 Peter 3:10Repent, @Sejorg! Pic.twitter.com/bVynXzAf6X#SEJ2017.”

Twitter, Twitter, 5 Oct. 2017, www.twitter.com/WBCSaysRepent/status/916061143105523712.

Baptist, Westboro. “Westboro Baptist (@WBCSaysRepent).” Twitter, Twitter, 16 Oct.

2017, www.twitter.com/WBCSaysRepent.

“Faggot (N.1).” Index, www.etymonline.com/word/faggot.

“In a Heartbeat - Animated Short Film.” YouTube, YouTube, 31 July 2017,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2REkk9SCRn0&t=26s.

Press, Chuck Oxley The Associated. “His Church Was Bombed, and Now He Protests

Funerals of the War Dead.” Seattlepi.com, www.seattlepi.com/local/article/His-church-was-

bombed-and-now-he-protests-1175893.php.

Westboro Baptist Church Parodies, www.godhatesfags.com/audio/parodies.html.

“Why Some Parents May Not Take Their Children to See Disney's 'Beauty and the

Beast'.” CBN.com (Beta), 9 Mar. 2017, www.cbn.com/cbnnews/entertainment/2017/march/why-

some-parents-may-not-take-their-children-to-see-disneys-beauty-and-the-beast.