The tragedy-rocked Virginia Tech community is preparing for the Blacksburg arrival of anti-gay protesters from the Topeka-Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church with counterdemonstrations, fundraisers and a large police presence.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Westboro founder the Rev. Fred Phelps, confirmed Tuesday that she will lead three 30-minute demonstrations around town Friday -- the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center scheduled for 12:15 p.m. followed by one at North Main and East Roanoke streets at 12:45 p.m. and Blacksburg Middle School at 1:30 p.m.

The group holds similar protests daily across the country in opposition to growing acceptance of gays in American culture. They preach that such tolerance has turned God against the nation and that the deaths of soldiers and other tragedies are proof of God's disapproval. Followers have also called on Jews to repent for the killing of Jesus.

The Blacksburg protests are part of a sweep across Virginia and West Virginia, Phelps-Roper said, and the town was chosen because "in these last hours of the last days, you guys are standing out in the crowd. You're getting God-smacked on a regular basis, and you're too stupid to learn to obey."

Most groups planning counterdemonstrations said Tuesday they would avoid direct confrontation with Phelps' followers.

Members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Blacksburg will hold a small gathering on College Avenue at 12:30 p.m., pastor Chris Brownlie said. The group will take donations for pro-gay organizations Equality Virginia and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Brownlie said.

A student-led counterprotest is set for noon in Tech's Graduate Life Center plaza off Otey Street. Administrators encouraged students to hold their event on campus to avoid confrontations with Westboro followers, Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Spencer said.

Tech's student-led Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender Alliance will not mount or support any counterprotest, President Aimee Kanode said.

"They are just such incorrigible people who seek attention," Kanode said. "If this protest were to get ugly, we wouldn't want to be associated with that."

The Blacksburg Jewish Community Center will be closed Friday during the protests, center President Joshua Shallom said.

Much of the community response has been organized via Facebook. A page encouraging donations be made to Tech's Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention for every minute of the Westboro protests had garnered about 340 supporters as of Tuesday. Another page titled "Hokies Against WBC on April 9th" listed 7,397 members.

Town officials have mobilized to ensure that demonstrations remain peaceful.

Phelps-Roper said she is pleased that Blacksburg police agreed to establish buffer zones between their members and counterdemonstrators.

"In some places the police think it is their business to tell us if we come there, they will put us in jail," Phelps-Roper said. "When we see officers who uphold and defend the Constitution, we love that."

Preparations have been elaborate and included downtown business owners affected by the protests, Blacksburg Chief Kim Crannis said.

Uniformed and plain-clothes police will be present at all three Westboro protest locations. Tech and Christiansburg police and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office will assist, and Virginia State Police will be on standby, Crannis said.

In 1991, about 30 members of the Ku Klux Klan staged a rally and march in Blacksburg that drew about 500 counterprotesters. Some 250 police officers from several jurisdictions provided security. That event cost taxpayers about $23,000, according to the Roanoke Times archive.

Security cost estimates for the Westboro protests were not available Tuesday.