The play The Laramie Project has been performed by many local high schools, but the decision to put it on at Nyack High School has drawn the ire of a Kansas group best known for its work picketing outside the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The group, the Westboro Baptist Church, has about 70 members, most part of an extended family. Their core beliefs are that God hates people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, that God hates the Catholic Church, Muslims and Jews, and that God hates the U.S.A. for irreligious, self-centered and sexually perverse ways. 

Now, on their website, they say God hates Upper Nyack.

The play they have protested for years is about the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard and the life of the town of Laramie after he was found—beaten—tied to a fence. Westboro is in the play, as its members picketed Shepard's funeral.

The group currently has a busy protest schedule. While most protests are at soldiers' funerals, members protested three productions of The Laramie Project this past weekend, one in their home state at Emporia High School. Nov. 20 performances of The Laramie Project on Westboro's announced hit list include: 

• Nyack High School
• North Brunswick Township High School in North Brunswick, NJ

"They have been here before on some anti-gay crusade," said Nyack Mayor Richard Kavesh. "These are despicable people. No one in Nyack wants them here. But they have a right to self-expression and we have a right to a counter-protest."

The last time members of the church came to protest, Kavesh said, more than 100 residents came out to stand against them. He hopes that will happen again.

"I am proud of Nyack High School for putting on The Laramie Project," Kavesh said. "The high school has a world-class arts program."

The play will be performed at NHS at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It was performed last month in Rye by Rye High School.

According to Pete Kramer at The Journal News, other local schools who have staged The Laramie Project include Pelham, Harrison and Croton-Harmon High School, Rye Country Day and The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry.

Westboro's activities are now the subject of a legal battle before the Supreme Court that pits the group's right to free speech against the right of a father to mourn for his soldier son in peace. The issues are laid out in this article on DailyFinance.com.