​LGBT Youth Scotland praises retort to Westboro Baptist Church homophobic song

A Scots teenager who posted a video on YouTube in response to a hate-filled Westboro Baptist Church song has won praise from one of the country’s biggest youth organisations.

LGBT Youth Scotland said 16-year-old Rebecca Anderson, from Edinburgh, was a great example of young people taking action to stand up and speak out against homophobia.

Rebecca’s Your Beliefs are a Lie, What a Tragedy video has been viewed nearly 48,000 times since being posted at the end of July and has been picked up by BuzzFeed.

The original video posted by the church, an American group known for its extremist positions, particularly against gay people, was a homophobic parody of pop punk group Panic! at the Disco’s hit song I Write Sins, Not Tragedies.

Young people are equipped with creativity and digital media savvy, bringing wonderful examples like this one, of important messages that can go viral in an instant

A spokesperson for LGBT Youth Scotland added: “Our recent national youth summit demonstrated a strong will from young people to be active in improving the lives of LGBT young people at home and abroad.

“Like Rebecca, there are many young people engaged in issues around equalities, rights and education. Young people are instrumental in our campaigns, including our current Shh – Silence Helps Homophobia education campaign, calling on people to stand up and speak out against homophobia in education.

“Young people are equipped with creativity and digital media savvy, bringing wonderful examples like this one, of important messages that can go viral in an instant and send a strong message of support to equalities movements across the globe.”

Despite the widespread praise among most viewers of the video some claiming to be members of the church have left graphic homophobic insults.