Thanks to the efforts of a very sharp Montpelier High School Senior, every anti-gay canard, every homophobic slur uttered during the Westboro “Baptist” Church’s visit to the school tomorrow morning will result in donations to Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD). The Times Argus has the story, and there’s a FaceBook page, too.

By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau – Published: August 31, 2009

MONTPELIER – When members of the Westboro Baptist Church utter their first homophobic invective Tuesday morning, the clock begins.

As they unfurl their anti-gay flags, raise their “God-Hates-Fags” banners and condemn the passage of this nation’s first same-sex marriage law passed by a Legislature, the minutes will add up, one on top of another, until the Kansas group packs up and departs for its next destination.

Joe Carlomagno will be watching the clock closely. Not to count down the seconds until the protesters are gone, but to add up the money they’ve inadvertently raised for the targets of their vitriol.

“A lot of people from Montpelier High School were planning some really radical counter-protests, and I just didn’t think that would be an effective way to make a statement about equality and equal rights,” Carlomagno, a Montpelier High senior, said last week. …

“I’m asking people to donate one dollar for each minute this group comes to protest,” Carlomagno said. The money will go to Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a nonprofit organization that seeks to end discrimination based on sexual orientation.

GLAD, you may remember, played a major role in supporting Vermont’s progress into civil unions, then the lawsuit resulting in the Massachusetts Supreme Court’s ruling striking down discrimination in marriage in the Bay State. Now they’re challenging a major section of DOMA on behalf of several Massachusetts couples.

Other options: donate to the Vermont Democratic Party which needs to re-elect the legislators who stuck to their principles and voted for the bill and/or to override the Republican governor’s veto of equality.

Donate to Vermont Freedom to Marry which played a huge role in keeping patient pressure on the legislature and keeping the issue in the public eye through massive fieldwork.

Donate to Outright Vermont, which is the organization based in Burlington that helps kids who are being bullied or harassed in high schools around the state because of the perception or reality that they’re l-g-b-or-t to stay in school and get the education they need and are entitled to.

As Carlomagno told the T-A: “It seemed like a good way to take advantage of an otherwise ugly thing, and to use that publicity to do some good.”