Lamb of God's dynamic front man Randy Blythe announced via Instagram stories yesterday (March 10th) that he planned to lead a counter-protest against the hate group Westboro Baptist Church — who planned to descend on Virginia's State Capitol in Richmond to rally against Virginia House of Delegates representative Danica Roem. Roem, who is a personal friend of Blythe, is a heavy metal musician and fan and the first openly transgender person to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly. "When people like this show up in our community," Blythe told followers, "we have no choice but to greet them en masse with some of our famous Southern hospitality."
Following through on his promise this morning (March 11th), Blythe led what he called a 'counter-party,' where he and attendees donned flamboyant attire and participated in the raucous musical event (complete with free kazoos) that successfully overpowered the hateful rhetoric spewed by notoriously anti-LGBTQ church.
"These people are coming out and speaking a bunch of ignorance about my friend," Blythe told local news outlet the Virginia Mercury. "I don't like that. So we came out and just drowned them out. That's the easiest way. There's no point in engaging these people."
Clips like those taken by rally-goers below show an enthusiastic Blythe dancing about in a cowboy hat and feather boa, obviously having a great time among fellow counter-protestors. Pounding away percussively on buckets and blowing through various plastic horns, the folks in attendance seem to have successfully outnumbered the Westboro protestors and demonstrated against their unwelcome presence in the Virginia capital city. In a more recent story posted to the singer's IG story, a reporter claims Blythe's protest had twice the people Westboro's group did, but Blythe contended it was "more than 20 times their size."
Lamb of God lead singer Randy Blythe leading counter-protesters to an appearance by Westboro Baptist Church at Capitol Square Richmond, Virginia. pic.twitter.com/7jAwqijFKi
— Chip Lauterbach (@ChipLauterbach) March 11, 2019
@hEnereyG hopefully this is a good start to your day. Randy Blythe from lamb of god organized a counter party to the Westboro Baptist Church today in Va. this is the result. pic.twitter.com/kN5MAcdkHG
— Corgin Hammersmith (@Finn_Dingo) March 11, 2019
I somehow ended up up Randy Blythe’s protest against the Westboro Baptist Church pic.twitter.com/CNbhwBAs2P
— Doc Coyle (@DocCoyle) March 11, 2019