AZ Passes Funeral Protest Ban to Block Westboro Baptist

This is good news from a state that has a very bad record on civil rights. In the aftermath of Saturday's shooting in Tuscon, the inbred Phelps clan from the Westboro Baptist Church announced on their web site that they would be protesting the funerals of those who were killed. The Arizona legislature pushed through legislation Tuesday to put a stop to it before it got started.

The Tuscon Weekly reports: In response to the possible Westboro Baptist Church protest, the Arizona Senate has unanimously passed SB 1101, which bans protests within three hundred feet of buildings where memorials are being held. The bill is on its way to Governor Brewer to sign, which she has previously indicated she will do.

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The Phelps Klan Goes to Washington

Image via WikipediaThe U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in the case of Snyder vs. Phelps. The case stems from a 2006 protest staged by members of the Westboro Baptist Church at the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matt Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. The case has made for some strange bedfellows.

The New York Times reports:

The justices were interested in the lawyers’ views about where his or her argument got fuzzy and made their questions more difficult by asking the lawyers to grapple each other’s contentions. Hovering over the oral arguments were briefs from friends of the court.

Walter Dellinger, a former acting solicitor general, sided with the Snyders for Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, and many others in Congress. They argue that Congress and 46 states have passed laws limiting protests at funerals and, implicitly, that the support for the family was a heartfelt exception to the breakdown in Washington. Nadine Strossen, a former leader of the American Civil Liberties Union, pointed out the chilling consequences for protest-filled university campuses if the church’s position is not upheld.

One friend of the court brief called the protesters’ message “uncommonly contemptible.” True, but it is in the interest of the nation that strong language about large issues be protected, even when it is hard to do so.

Phelps and his congregation, made up almost entirely of members of his extended family, support themselves and their church by suing and winning cases like this.

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Supreme Court to Hear Case Against the Phelps Clan

In 2006 Fred Phelps and his band of wackos engaged in one of their protests at the funeral of a military serviceman. Albert Snyder, the father of the deceased marine, sued the Phelpses and was awarded millions in damages for the intentional inflection of emotional distress. The Snyder's victory was short-lived when the ruling was overturned on First Amendment grounds.


The Supreme Court starts its new session today with newly appointed Justice Elena Kagan. According to Advocate.com, the court has scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case of Snyder vs. Phelps for Wednesday. The court is expected to ultimately decide whether hate speech is protected under the U.S. Constitution.

 

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Fred Phelps' Son Works for LGBT Acceptance (video)

The man who grew up in the closed family structure led by hatemonger Fred Phelps, of the Westboro Baptist Church, has turned away from the family business and now works for LGBT rights.

Nate Phelps recently addressed the Alliance For Full Acceptance, a Charleston, SC LGBT advocacy and outreach group. Phelps left his family at the age of 18 when he realized that his father was the leader of a hate group.

WCBD-TV in Charleston reports.

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Va. Tech Hokies vs. Westboro Baptist: Clash in the Bible Belt (video)

A handful of protesters from the notorious Westboro Baptist Church led by Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of founder Fred Phelps, picketed in three locations around the town of Blacksburg only to be confronted by hundreds of students and faculty from Virginia Tech, citizens from the town of Blacksburg and the father of Morgan Harrington, the Tech student who was abducted, raped and murdered after a concert in Charlottesville last year.

The wackos from Westboro say that Harrington's murder and the Virginia Tech massacre nearly three years ago were the result of a curse from God for Tech's tolerance of gays and lesbians.

By all accounts, the protests and counter-protests were peaceful. The event was used as a fundraiser by the LGBTA student group from Tech.

All three local TV news programs covered the protests. Roanoke's Newschannel10's coverage (shown first below) did not include Phelps-Roper's hateful message as they found it too offensive to broadcast, instead focusing on the positive messages coming from counter protesters.

The coverage from Lynchburg's ABC-13 (shown below 2nd) gave way too much attention the the Phelpses in my opinion, but also focused on the reaction of Morgan Harrington's father and his difficulty in dealing with this desecration of his daughter's memory.

News 7 (which for some reason won't embed) took a different approach and focused on Westboro Baptist's misinterpretation of the bible, with commentary from a local preacher. You can view that video here.

What I find the most amusing is that when religious extremists like this show up in a state that is run by rabidly anti-gay politicians, the churchy folks show up to denounce them. But months from now when the Phelps Klan has gone home and today's protests are a distant memory, those same people will use the very same bible verses as the Phelpes to justify their own anti-gay bigotry. It's as if Virginians are saying, "Hey, if anybody's gonna hate our faggots, it'll be us! Go get your own faggots to bash!"

My brain hurts.

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VA and WVa Prep for Phelps Protests, Cool Site of the Week: GodHatesEveryoneExceptForUs.com

I was cruising the web this morning looking for something to inspire today's posts, when I came across an article from earlier this week on AOL News that inked to an article from the West Virginia Gazette, that linked to a website called God Hates Everyone Except For Us. Are you still following?

So here's where my train of thought led me. The West Virginia Gazette did a story about this week's scheduled protests (Thursday through Saturday) in WV by Fred Phelps and the nut-logs from Westboro Baptist Church. According to the God Hates Fags people, God caused Monday's Massey Mine explosion because apparently the folks in the Mountain State are too tolerant of fags. (WTF?) The article goes on to say that the Charleston Chamber of Commerce printed up a few thousand posters saying "West Virginia is no Place for Hate!", to be given out for free to anybody who wanted to take part in counter-protests, which is pretty freaking awesome for a non-political organization to do!

The posters are going like hot cakes and the Chamber has had to print several hundred more to keep up with demand. The Phelps protests are scheduled at various locations around the capital city, including the capital building itself and a local synagogue and university. Church groups, student groups and civic organizations have rallied together to stand up to the Phelps klan, so if nothing else, the community is more united than ever because of these hateful people.

In a related story, Westboro will also be protesting in Blacksburg, Va. today at three sites near rthe Virginia Tech campus. WDBJ7 reports:

Members of Westboro Baptist Church claim God cursed Tech and sent the shooter on April 16th, 2007. The group informed the town they'll be at three locations: outside the Jewish Community Center, along Main Street and in front of Blacksburg Middle School. A positive counter demonstration is set for noon at the Graduate Life Center Plaza. Blacksburg Police say they've done extensive planning to protect everyone.  Extra officers will be on duty.

News7's Justin McLeod has learned Morgan Harrington's father plans to be there Friday.  The family has heard Westboro Baptist Church plans to be there because of Morgan Harrington's death. Her father told News7 by phone Thursday he has seen posters on the group's website involving his daughter that he finds appalling and disturbing. Morgan Harrington is the Virginia Tech student who went missing after a Metallica concert at UVA's John Paul Jones arena in October. Her remains were found several months later in a field just outside of Charlottesville.

This brings me to my pick for Cool Site of the Week. The WV Gazette article made a reference to a group from the Eastboro Baptist Church with a link to it's site, called GodHates EveryoneExceptForUs.com. The article made no mention of the fact that this is a satirical site poking fun at Westboro by making even more outrageous and over-the-top statements than Phelps could even dream of. You know how much I love anything over-the-top. 

When you visit the site you'll find a bio of the fictitious founder, Pastor Ben Bigots who allegedly grew up with Phelps with whom he has been engaged in a life-long competition to see who is more hateful and intolerant. 

This is how Eastboro explains their purpose on their site:

Good evening gentle friend.
Welcome to the Eastboro Baptist Church homepage. This page is dedicated to preaching the Gospel truth about the soul-damning, nation-destroying notion that "It is OK to be different from us."

"GOD HATES EVERYONE EXCEPT US" -- though elliptical -- is a profound theological statement, which the world needs to hear more than it needs oxygen, water and bread. The three words, fully expounded, show:

the absolute sovereignty of "GOD" in all matters whatsoever (e.g., Jeremiah 32:17, Isaiah 45:7, Amos 3:6, Proverbs 16:4, Matthew 19:26, Romans 9:11-24, Romans 11:33-36, etc.),

the doctrine of reprobation or God's "HATE" involving eternal retribution or the everlasting punishment of most of mankind in Hell forever (e.g., Leviticus 20:13,23, Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11:5, Malachi 1:1-3, Romans 9:11-13, Matthew 7:13,23, John 12:39-40, 1 Peter 2:8, Jude 4, Revelation 13:8, 20:15, 21:27, etc.), and

the certainty that all impenitent “people who disagree with our beliefs” (under the elegant metaphor of "EVERYONE EXCEPT US" fueling the fires of God's wrath) will inevitably go to Hell (e.g., Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:8-11

Check it out if you need some comic relief after all the intensity of standing up for equality. We all need to take a breather sometimes.

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Westboro Baptist to Picket Anniversary of Va. Tech Shootings, Students Taking Action (video)

The Roanoke Times reported on Friday that Rev. Fred Phelps and his band of inbred followers are planning to stage protests at strategic points near the campus of Virginia Tech on Friday, April 9, from 1pm - 1:30pm and student groups are preparing to take action.

The following barely-coherent post appears on the Westboro Baptist Church's website, godhatesfags.com:

Virginia Tech N. Main St. & E. Roanoke St. (SW Corner) WBC to picket Virginia Tech to connect the dots. God sent the killer because of your proud sin! You raise your kids to believe they can disobey God with impunity, and that His commandments are all on the table to be disposed of whenever you please. That's why they think fornication, adultery, and sodomy are all just in good fun (instead of the filthy practices they are), and that's why the wrath of God is on them. God is cursing you by killing those same children that you have lied to all their lives. VA Tech was just GodSmacked -- another of your students murdered -- and you still refuse to heed and obey the standards of God. Woe unto you! "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness...!" Isa. 5:20. You're going to Hell, and you're taking your kids with you.

A student group from Tech has formed a Facebook page "How VT Will Beat the WBC", to organize students to take action. One of the suggestions is to use the protest as fundraiser and donate the proceeds to charities that the Phelps folks oppose. The following video shows how one group of students did just that:

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"God hates Gaga"

Image via Wikipedia

What better way to celebrate the birth of your lord and savior than to point out yet another person that he hates? Those wacky folks at Westboro Baptist are at it again. This time they've decided they need to save the world from Lady Gaga. Yes, that's right. The Phelps klan is taking aim at the pop diva because of her support for LGBT equality and have promised to picket her concerts.

PinkNews reports:

The Kansas-based church, best known for its slogan of God Hates Fags, said in a press release it would protest outside a St Louis concert on January 7th.

Calling her a "sleazy God-hater", the church said: "'Art' and 'fashion' are the euphemisms, the guise under which proud whore Lady Gaga teaches rebellion against God."

Gaga has frequently spoken of her love for her gay fans and thanked them for their support.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of church leader Fred Phelps, told Radar Online: "We will be going to her concert with placards reading 'God Hates Lady Gaga' – to inform people that they will be going to hell too if they listen to her messages.

“According to the Bible homosexuality is an abomination and she has to shut her filthy mouth and stop promoting it.”

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