Surprise, surprise: Protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church, who often threaten to picket certain locations and then fail to show up, actually brought their vile circus to East High School this morning as scheduled. And students and others who reject the WBC's messages of intolerance were ready with a dose of peace and love.

"Those East kids -- one of whom is my son -- were amazing," e-mails Emily Sinclair, who shared her photos of the event, in which dozens of students faced off against four to six WBC haters. She notes that there were "long Facebook conversations all weekend about how to best address this visit." The students "were endearingly loyal to East and wanted to 'look good' for their school," she adds. "Lots of conversations about religion, how to handle antagonists, what the right messages were for their posters.

"The principal, deans I spoke with, cops, etc., were totally behind them and thought the students were upbeat, restrained and smart about this protest," Sinclair notes. "They're making some fine people over there on the Esplanade."

Look below and page down to see more of Sinclair's photos.

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More from our News archive: "Westboro Baptist Church counter-protest organizer wants peace to prevail."

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