CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

A Kansas-based church known for celebrating at the funerals of American soldiers killed in combat plans to protest today at Fairfax Senior High School because the student body elected a gay male teen as its prom queen.

Westboro Baptist Church, which has been named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, says it plans to picket at the school between 12:15 and 1 p.m. Church members also will demonstrate outside a Jewish temple, community center and the Anti-Defamation League’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

The school protest was prompted by Fairfax High students crowning Sergio Garcia, 18, prom queen last month. Counter- protesters are expected, and say they will use the church’s presence to raise donations for the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance.

Westboro Baptist Church last protested at a Southern California school in April, when members picketed the staging of the musical “Rent” at an Orange County high school. The group routinely celebrates at soldiers’ funerals, saying that they are killed by God because America tolerates homosexuality.

-- Seema Mehta