Police monitored rival protests by a Kansas-based church and its opponents before the Kiss concert Monday at the Prairie Capital Convention Center.
No incidents occurred.
About 10 members of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, known mainly for picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan, held signs on Ninth Street between Washington and Jefferson streets lambasting homosexuals and Israel.
According to church member Shirley Phelps-Roper, the group objects to Kiss member Gene Simmons’ involvement with the "NOH8 Campaign" and his Jewish ethnicity. Simmons opposed the passage of Proposition 8 in California, which banned same-sex marriage.
A counterprotest by about 20 people developed on the opposite side of the street. Organizer Jeff Bigelow said bigotry against gay and Jewish people should not be welcomed in Springfield.
