Video of Westboro Baptist Church’s unsuccessful Montana demonstration

(Editor’s note: Some readers have reported difficulty viewing the Tribune videos embedded in this blog. As a courtesy I uploaded a YouTube version as well as the complete story from Monday’s demonstration. Please visit GFTrib.com for more great news videos from around Montana. )

BOZEMAN - A handful of sign-waving acolytes of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church did not find a receptive audience on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman on Monday afternoon.

Hundreds of people from across Montana’s vast geographical, political and social spectrum descended upon the controversial demonstrators to counter the group’s message that God is punishing the United States for tolerating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.

Westboro Baptist Church is famous for picketing the funerals of fallen soldiers with messages such as “Thank God for IEDs.” More recently they made headlines by claiming the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was God’s work.

The church, which has been widely condemned by religious leaders, veterans groups and human rights groups for more than a decade, announced earlier this year that it planned to picket MSU and Bozeman High School.

Approximately five Westboro demonstrators stood on a corner across from Veterans Memorial Park holding signs. However, the demonstrators and their signs were barely visible through the throngs of counter-demonstrators who quickly surrounded and obstructed the view of the Westboro picketers.

Robbie Regennitter of Great Falls was with a group called Patriot Guard Riders. The Patriot Guard Riders travel to Westboro demonstrations around the United States to show support for America and to denounce hate.

“I don’t think anybody needs to be preaching hate,” Reggennitter said. “There’s enough hate in the world already.”

A group of motorcyclists from the Patriot Guard Riders and a pair of men in a muscle car did laps in front of the Westboro picketers, revving their loud engines and drawing huge cheers from the raucous crowd.

Many counter-demonstrators and those gathered at a nearby anti-hate rally just a few hundred yards away on the campus grounds wore T-shirts and held signs denouncing Westboro’s message.

MSU Junior Matt Morris of Greeley, Colo., donned a homemade T-shirt that read “I’m a Christian and God Loves this Campus.”

Morris said Westboro’s teachings run counter to true Christian principles.

“I came out here today to support a positive image of Christians,” Morris said.

The anti-hate rally drew even more people than the anti-Westboro picketers as hundreds gathered to hear speakers talk about equality, acceptance and dignity for the LGBT community.

Event organizer Jamee Greer of the Montana Human Rights Network said Westboro’s unwanted presence created an opportunity to have a conversation about the broader movement for equality for LGBT Montanans.

Greer said Montanans sometimes lose sight of the fact that unlike other parts of the country where the LGBT community enjoys many of the same rights as heterosexual residents, Montana only recently struck language from its code books making it illegal to be gay.

Greer said Westboro’s appearance in the state gives Montanans a good opportunity to examine issues like dignity, safety, security and fairness for all.

“I think groups like Westboro Baptist Church coming to town give us an opportunity to talk about where discrimination exists and how we can work together to end it,” Greer said.

Dr. Jay Smith, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Bozeman, addressed rally-goers. Smith said the Westboro Baptist Church does not represent the true teachings of the Baptist Church.

“You need to know that by some definition I, too, am a religious nut job, just of a different sort,” Smith said. “As a follower of Christ, I believe that God loves everyone: red, yellow, black, brown, white, gay, lesbian, transgender, straight, drunks, drug abusers, gossips, musicians, religious people, atheists, athletes, nerds, educated intellectualists and homespun country folks. Everyone.”

Rabbi Ed Stafman, of the Congregation Beth Shalom of Bozeman, is the acting chairman of the Gallatin Valley Interfaith Coalition.

Stafman said the rally was aimed at showing the world that Bozeman does not tolerate hate toward any group or people.

“This is a gathering to make the affirmative statement that Bozeman is a place where we tolerate diversity, and we seek equality,” Stafman said. “It doesn’t matter who the victim du jour may be.”

AP reporters receive threats after Montana attorney general denies records request

Freedom of the press is fundamental to a functioning Democracy.

One of the pillars of a free press is the public’s Right to Know.

Both were threatened last week after Attorney General Tim Fox made a public display of denying an open records request by Associated Press reporter Matt Gouras.

In the days following Fox’s announcement that he would not fulfill the AP’s request for information on concealed carry permit holders in Montana, Gouras and other Montana AP reporters began receiving threats online.

Here are just of the few of the most sinister threats:

In another online forum anonymous commenters posted Gouras’ home address and even a Google Street View photo of Gouras’ house.

The Associated Press declined to comment on the threats.

Fox’s spokesman, John Barnes, said in a statement that the Attorney General’s Office was not aware of any threats made against AP reporters or their families.

“If employees of the Associated Press – or any citizens – have received threats, they should contact their city police department or county sheriff office,” Barnes said via email. “The Montana Department of Justice can assist in investigations when requested by local authorities.”

This all stemmed from Gouras’ March 18  request for public information on current concealed carry permit holders, including, but not limited to, last name, first name, middle name, street address, city,  employer, age or date of birth, driver’s license number, date of application.

Earlier this year the Montana Legislature passed a law, which Gov. Steve Bullock signed, barring the state from reveal information on concealed weapons permit holders to the press or the public. The law is set to take effect on Oct. 1. The AP made the request before the law had even passed before it was signed into law.

In a July 17 memo Fox denied Gouras’ request for the information citing the Montana Constitution’s privacy provisions. Rather than send Gouras notice denying the request and move on as is customary, Fox chose to grandstand and go on a media blitz, talking about his decision on NRANews.com’s Cam & Co. radio show, as well as making appearances on local television and radio news stations across the state.

(Update 8/5/2013 5:10 p.m.) According to Fox spokesman John Barnes, the Attorney General’s Office sent the July 17 memo only to Associated Press reporters Matt Gouras and Matt Volz as well as to county attorneys and Montana sheriffs. Barnes said he doesn’t know how other media outlets found out about the memo but that there was no effort on the attorney general’s behalf to publicize the decision. Barnes said after the news got out other media outlets requested Gouras’ original request.

Fox called the AP’s request “pretty unprecedented,” a “bad idea” and said:

“Quite frankly I can’t think of a reason where it would be legitimate or reasonable to publish this amount of information or to release it to any individual.”

To the average person not regularly involved in news gathering and public information requests, Gouras’ request might seem intrusive. In actuality, the press requests this kind of information all the time. Good reporters regularly request all kinds of documents, information and data from Government agencies. We usually ask for as much detail as we can get and then work back from there. Sometimes privacy laws dictate what information we can and can’t have, in which case we work out those details with the agency. We make a habit of doing this on the public’s behalf. It’s how we find patterns in mounds of data. It’s how we hold government accountable.

The Associated Press has a long history of this kind of reporting. It was not too long ago Gouras uncovered the fact that hundreds of people barred from having guns because they are felons on parole or probation were still able to get hunting licenses in Montana with no questions asked.

Gouras didn’t publish the names of everyone who had a hunting license. He didn’t reveal a list of all the felons and parolees in the state. He cross referenced two sets of data and developed a good story from what he found.

The reaction from the pro-gun  world was swift and harsh as the headlines on conservative blogs and traditional media outlets alike questioned not Fox’s denial of a public records request, but the AP’s motivations in making it in the first place.

The message from the online pro-gun forums was clear: the public doesn’t have a right to know who holds a concealed carry permit. Some extremists made that point even sharper by warning other journalists that making such an request could be a mortal sin.

Such threats and intimidation tactics toward journalists should not be tolerated anywhere, particularly in a country whose founding document enshrined freedom of the press in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The biggest critique against the AP’s request for the information seems to be the fact that they wouldn’t comment on what they intended to do with it.

The beautiful thing about the public’s Right to Know is that it’s our Right to Know. We don’t have to tell the government why we want the information or what we plan to do with it. It’s the government’s job to turn it over and it’s the journalist’s job to deal with the data and information in a responsible manner.

People will point to the incident last December when a New York paper published the names and addresses of local gun owners.

You could argue that was a poor decision on their part. I think most journalists would argue right alongside you.

But one newspaper’s poor decision does not mean every journalist who requests information will disseminate it in such an irresponsible manner.

In Montana there is a history of great news reporting stemming from similar requests.

In 2008 then-Lee Newspapers state bureau reporter Jennifer McKee wrote a story on how nine sitting lawmakers had permits to carry concealed weapons.

In 2000 the Missoulian published a story on how the number of concealed weapons permits was climbing.

In 1994 Lee Newspapers capitol bureau reporter  David Fenner did a series of stories on concealed weapons in the state. The top story in the January 23, 1994 edition of the Billings Gazette featured a four-part report on gun-bearing Montanans, including an analysis of the concealed carry permit database.

One of Fenner’s stories explored the rise in permit holders.

Another featured interviews with concealed weapons permit holders, including Montana Supreme Court Justice James Nelson, former State Rep. Jody Bird, D-Superior and former Gov. Marc Racicot’s cousin. Presumably

A third story explored how a small community near the Hi-Line saw a spike in concealed weapons permit applications after a security manager at a local mine warned of the dangers of “environmental extremists.”

A fourth article debated the concealed weapons law’s effectiveness in deterring violent crime:

Update (8/5/2013 3:50 p.m.): Just last Thursday in the Outdoors section, the Tribune did a story on women carrying concealed weapons that would not have been possible without substantiating the information with the government. It gave insight into an important story in a responsible way.

So yes, there are “legitimate” and “reasonable” reasons for requesting this kind of information.

Associated Press Bureau Chief Jim Clarke gave me this statement about Gouras’ request and the AP’s intentions for the data Fox refused to turn over:

“After the Montana Legislature voted to remove from the public record information on whom the government had granted permits to carry concealed weapons, effective Oct. 1, The Associated Press requested a database of these files that had long been accessible to the public.

AP acted under freedom of information law, which we do routinely in seeking records at the federal, state and local level as part of our newsgathering process and our long-standing mission to assure transparency and accountability in government.  Montana’s Constitution contains such a Right to Know clause, which says: “No person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents.”

We have never had any interest in publishing the Montana database in its entirety.”

It is unclear at this point if the Associated Press or other news outlets plan to sue in court for access to the records.