'Weird hobby!' Couple gain hordes of fans after picketing pro-life abortion clinic protests with witty inappropriate signs

  • Grayson Haver Currin, 31, and wife Tina began their protests in March
  • Signs point at pro-lifers declaring 'He's single' and 'Honk if you're horny'
  • More surreal ones say 'Bring back crystal Pepsi', 'Jesus slays' and 'Pro Dog'
  • Thousands of people have shared the images since they were put online
  • Dozens join protests Raleigh, North Carolina, as they spread to west coast

By Dan Bloom

Published: | Updated:

A couple have gained thousands of fans after they 'counter-protested' anti-abortion pickets with bizarre slogans like 'Bring back Crystal Pepsi' and 'Who farted?'.

Grayson and Tina Haver Currin came up with the idea in March to break the ice with pro-lifers outside an abortion clinic near their home in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Since then the photographs of their surreal placards have gone viral - prompting dozens of other pro-choice activists to join them every Saturday morning.

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Not your usual pastime: Tina Haver Currin (right) and her husband Grayson have won hoards of fans with their surreal protests against pro-life activists outside an abortion clinic near their home in Raleigh, North Carolina

Not your usual pastime: Tina Haver Currin (right) and her husband Grayson have won hordes of fans with their surreal protests against pro-life activists outside an abortion clinic near their home in Raleigh, North Carolina

Not seeing the funny side: Mr Haver Currin (left) said activists have prayed for him and called him wicked

Not seeing the funny side: Mr Haver Currin (left) said activists have prayed for him and called him wicked

Odd one out: In many of the photos the protesters look as though they are trying to ignore the comic signs

Odd one out: In many of the photos the protesters look as though they are trying to ignore the comic signs

Music writer Grayson, 31, and copywriter Tina, 27, married last year and came up with the idea to stand next to activists on Saturday mornings with a sign saying: 'Weird hobby'.

Others since then have read 'I like turtles', 'World's worst nanny ad' and 'Only racists salt their watermelon'. 

The slogans earn them some bemused reactions from the activists themselves - who perhaps unsurprisingly, have failed to see the funny side.

'They pray for us,' Mr Haver Currin told MailOnline. 'They tell us that God will destroy the wicked, including us. They tell us that we were once sinners just like them.

'They tell us that we're angry because we believe in God so much it hurts us - this one is particularly cute!

Mr Haver Currin said: 'Mostly, they put down their signs and bullhorns and berate us instead of the women'

Mr Haver Currin said: 'Mostly, they put down their signs and bullhorns and berate us instead of the women'

Covert: Sometimes the activists appear behind their rival activists to sneak funny photos behind their backs

Covert: Sometimes the activists appear behind their rival activists to sneak funny photos behind their backs

Overt: And sometimes, their methods are designed to attract as much attention as is humanly possible

Overt: And sometimes, their methods are designed to attract as much attention as is humanly possible

'But mostly, they put down their signs and bullhorns and berate us instead of the women and families going into the clinic for whatever reason they might have.'

He added: 'That is the goal - to provide a distraction and shield for the people who need the clinic. And the ultimate goal is to drive these people away completely.'

The couple, who met four years ago at a rock concert, began their idea spontaneously when they passed an anti-abortion protest on their way home from a garden centre.

'We both clinched up a bit, and I said, in an offhand way to Tina, 'It would be funny to make a sign that said Weird Hobby with an arrow and point it at the folks holding Babies Are Murdered Here signs', he said.

'I thought she'd just laugh it off, because I'm full of silly ideas. But she was into it.

Provocative: The couple admitted they had experienced hostile reactions from some of the pro-life activists

Provocative: The couple admitted they had experienced hostile reactions from some of the pro-life activists

Surreal: To show what they see as the illogical side of pro-life thinking, the picketers make their signs absurd
Surreal: To show what they see as the illogical side of pro-life thinking, the picketers make their signs absurd

Surreal: To show what they see as the illogical side of pro-life thinking, the picketers make their signs absurd

Joke: The pro-abortion activists also can't help poking fun at the spelling abilities of their rival protesters

Joke: The pro-abortion activists also can't help poking fun at the spelling abilities of their rival protesters

'On our way home, we did the deed, post it to our various social media outlets, and people flipped.' 

Their protests over one of the nation's most hotly-contested issues duly made headlines when they posted the images on their blog Saturday Chores. 

Since then the images have been shared thousands of times, and earned them some heavy flak from pro-life advocates who say they are trivialising an important debate.

But Mr Haver Currin said: 'There are things that need protesting in this world, and we're not always sure how to protest them.

'By adding humor, we've refused to have an argument with the pro-life movement, because we know that argument will not be won. The argument must be changed.

Bemused: The slogans are deliberately designed to be as ludicrously inappropriate as possible

Bemused: The slogans are deliberately designed to be as ludicrously inappropriate as possible

Positive note: The couple said they wanted to combat protesters with chirpy and irreverant messages

Positive note: The couple said they wanted to combat protesters with chirpy and irreverant messages

Serious: There are also more earnest messages too after dozens of people began joining the couple

Serious: There are also more earnest messages too after dozens of people began joining the couple

'This is a conversation about equality and freedom.'

Anti-abortion protests are widespread and earned a big boost in June, when the Supreme Court said a 'buffer zone' stopping activists from getting to close to clinics violated free speech.

The justices struck down the 35ft zones in Massachusetts saying they was too sweeping, taking in sidewalks which have been a place for political campaigning for hundreds of years.

To date the couple have only picketed the same protesters at a single clinic less than 10 miles from their home, the A Preferred Women's Health Center (APWHC) in Raleigh.

If they manage to evict the protesters out of embarrassment or simply annoyance, they claim they will move on to the next clinic.

Support: Nowadays, the couple are far from alone in their comedic Saturday morning vigils in North Carolina

Support: Nowadays, the couple are far from alone in their comedic Saturday morning vigils in North Carolina

Catchy: The idea has been taken up in San Francisco, where a copycat protest was held last week (pictured)

Catchy: The idea has been taken up in San Francisco, where a copycat protest was held last week (pictured)

But some allies are way ahead of them - as a copycat 'counter-protest' sprang up in San Francisco last week.

And the couple have no plans to scale down their operation.

'The goal has never been to go viral, to be some cute Internet couple or whatnot,' Mr Haver Currin said.

 'The goal has been and remains to shame people who feel like shaming women and families exercising their legal right and to distract them from shaming those people.'

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