Lincoln Southwest High School Principal Rob Slauson had hoped his students would ignore the Westboro Baptist Church protesters who showed up Monday with their provocative anti-gay signs and songs.

Instead, several hundred students poured out of the building at the end of the school day with signs, chants and arguments of their own.

Now Slauson is hoping the dual protests will serve as a learning moment for his 1,875 students at the school on South 14th Street.

"I'm both disappointed and proud," he said as the half-hour protest -- a brief circus that drew stares and honks from passersby as well as security support from the Lincoln Police Department -- wound down.

Disappointed, Slauson said, because extremists like the Westboro protesters seem to feed off attention, and that's exactly what some students gave them.

Proud because the students stood up for what they believe.

"We're going to have some conversations about this," said Slauson, who planned to e-mail teachers suggesting class discussions in the wake of the protest and tap student leaders to launch a dialogue among their peers.

"About what it means to be leaders. About tolerance."

Westboro, a Topeka, Kan., church, is known for controversial anti-gay protests across the nation. Church members, most of whom are related to founder Fred Phelps, have picketed tens of thousands of events.

Their targets include funerals of U.S. soldiers, with the belief God is punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuality.

They've been to Nebraska before: Authorities arrested one church member in 2007 after she allegedly let her son stand on an American flag during a protest at the funeral of a National Guardsman in Bellevue.

The Westboro group planned to hit five local spots Monday, Lincoln Police Capt. Jon Sundermeier said: Southwest High, two Jewish temples, the Lied Center for Performing Arts and Wyuka cemetery.

Southwest students speculated the protesters chose their school because they're considering a production of "The Laramie Project," a play that documents the 1998 beating of a gay student in Laramie, Wyo., for the 2010-11 year. Matthew Shepard died Oct. 12, 1998.

Members of the Westboro church stopped by the Lied Center for a 7 p.m. performance of a related production, "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later -- An Epilogue."

"I hate it (that the protesters showed up)," said Chelsea Keller, a Southwest junior who stood near the Westboro group with a sign that read "God Doesn't Discriminate."

Counter-protesting peacefully was the right thing to do, Keller said, because "just arguing with them isn't going to do anything."

Junior Aaron Fischer led chants and shouted several times, "God says not to judge other people!"

"I think it's totally OK for (protesters) to express their feelings," he said. "But since they have that right, I have that right also."

Some students debated the Westboro protesters and a few shouted expletives. Several held hands with same-gender friends, showing support for gay rights.

Thanks to Facebook, students from other schools learned about the protest as well and showed up to support their Southwest friends, Slauson said.

Many students stayed in school until the protest ended or went about business as usual, options administrators had preferred. The school had alerted parents via phone and e-mail, Slauson said, and school leaders had urged students not to engage the demonstrators.

Even though those urgings didn't pan out across the board, Slauson said the protest may teach students a valuable lesson: The Constitution protects even the kinds of speech those in the mainstream find offensive.

"This is democracy in action," he said.

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.