On Oct. 31, the controversial Westboro Baptist Church will come to Vanderbilt to preach against the university’s use of “Tran-pronouns” as part of their ‘God Hates Trannies Preaching Tour”. The acknowledgement of non-binary pronouns at Vanderbilt gained national attention when Fox News aired a segment about it, as noted by the WBC’s picket schedule.

Their protest will run from 11:10 until 11:40 a.m., but no specific location for the protest is mentioned. The event description states that universities, such as Vanderbilt, allow for students to pick their own pronouns. The WBC calls the transgender people who exercise this right “sad souls”. 

Read an excerpt below from the event description:

“BE THANKFUL FOR THE WAY THE LORD YOUR GOD MADE YOU!

BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE/ARE; AND,

OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, OR, PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD AND EXPLAIN YOUR REBELLION! IT WILL NOT GO WELL! GOD MADE YOUR CHROMOSOMES AND DNA. THEY WILL NOT CHANGE!”

The group will additionally picket at Belmont University (10:30-11:00 a.m.) before arriving on Vanderbilt’s campus and at OutCentral (11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.), Nashville’s LGBT Center, afterwards. At all three locations, their focus will be on transgender people. Each event description lists several Bible passages related to the topic.

The WBC, based out of Topeka, KS and designated as a hate group by organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, has additionally protested the funerals of soldiers, Jewish institutions and LGBT institutions among others. Their signs typically bear slogans including, “God Hates Fags” and “Fags Doom Nations”.

This isn’t the first time that religious protestors will have come to Vanderbilt. In September 2011, individuals from another protest group drove around Greek Row during a tailgate and told students to “repent” for their actions, which included the way they dressed and for drinking alcohol.