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The Westboro Baptist Church went after Roem, so she put out a call to raise money for her reelection campaign because, 'They'll hate that.'
Virginia's first transgender delegate Danica Roem countered the virulently anti-LGBTQ Westboro Baptist Church's threats to protest her presence at the General Assembly with #WestboroBackfire, a call via Twitter to donate to her reelection campaign. In less than a week she's raised more than $26,000, Roem tweeted earlier this week.
Roem's call to action was in response to the Westboro Baptist Church's press release in late February announcing it intended to protest Roem at the Virginia State Capitol and near Virginia Commonwealth University campus on March 11, according to the Washington Blade.
In the release, the group called her a "proud abominable transgender rebel."
Responding to the Westboro Baptist Church, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has deemed a hate group, Roem appeared unfazed on Twitter.
"Meh," was her response to the group's threats before turning their hate into an opportunity to fundraise. Her fundraising page reads, "Fight back against hate speech."
\u201cMy response to \u201cWBC hurls slurs at @pwcdanica.\u201d \u2014 and please use this quote in its entirety as I put the amount of thought the situation warrants into it:\n\n\u201cMeh.\u201d\n\nRoem went on to add:\n\n\u201cOh, and donate money to my re-election campaign. They\u2019ll hate that.\u201d\nhttps://t.co/f9xM33GyA1 https://t.co/zCPwQSSuuh\u201d— Del. Danica Roem (@Del. Danica Roem) 1551455282
The Westboro Baptist Church got wind of Roem's strategy and responded calling her a "greedy fundraiser" and "God's enemy," she tweeted over the weekend.
This week, Roem tweeted thanks to the more than 700 people who helped her raise more than $26,000 for her campaign. She is up for reelection this year.
\u201cWe saw WBC\u2019s hate.\nAnd nearly 700 of you offered more than $25,000 in just four days.\nThank you, thank you, thank you!\nThis is truly special.\nLGBTQ candidates: people routinely attack us because of who we are.\nThis is how we fight back.\nAnd this is how we win.\n#WestboroBackfire\u201d— Del. Danica Roem (@Del. Danica Roem) 1551761040
Among its many actions hate-fueled actions, the Westboro Baptist Church has famously protested at the funerals of fallen soldiers and shooting victims and at Matthew Shepard's funeral.
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