A petition to label the Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group has become the most popular signed petition on the White House petition page.
The White House allows people to create petitions at the "We the People" website and if a petition reaches the 25,000 threshold then a response from the White House has to be provided.
The petition to label the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) as a hate group was first created on Dec. 14, the same day as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., which killed 26 people, including 20 children.
The creation of the petition, made by "Grant B," comes at a time when Westboro members announced their intentions to picket at the funerals of the Sandy Hook victims.
According to Grant B, "[The WBC's] actions have been directed at many groups, including homosexuals, military, Jewish people and even other Christians," stated the petition. "They pose a threat to the welfare and treatment of others and will not improve without some form of imposed regulation."
Almost two weeks since the creation of the petition, 278,244 signatures have been collected, over the 25,000 goal for the Obama administration to provide a response by 253,244 signatures.
The success of the petition surpasses the petition to grant Texas to succeed from the U.S. created three days after President Obama was reelected on Nov. 6. The Texas petition has received 123,145 signatures.
Two other petitions regarding the WBC has also passed the 25,000 threshold in regards to revoking the WBC's tax exempt status. The two petitions have received 60,810 and 45,133 signatures, respectively.
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