Anti-gay protesters opposed by 20 times as many locals- Tracy, CA

[Kadie]

TRACY
Anti-gay protesters opposed by 20 times as many locals
Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, June 12, 2005


Tracy, San Joaquin County -- Thirteen members of an anti-gay church from Kansas who picketed a high school graduation Saturday were met with about 250 counter-demonstrators, 30 police officers and numerous residents annoyed to see divisive protest in this normally quiet town.

Carrying signs reading, "America is Doomed" and "God Hates Perverts," followers and relatives of the Rev. Fred Phelps traveled about 1,800 miles from Topeka to picket the high school graduation at Tracy High because they were upset that students at a different high school in Tracy gained administrative support for resurrecting their chapter of the Gay-Straight Alliance.

"We're here to preach to this generation that it's not all right to be gay,'' said Betty Phelps of Topeka, who carried one sign thanking God for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and another denouncing gays. "They need to learn some morals before Judgment Day."

snip...
But some people who drove by or walked past were very offended when one of the anti-gay protesters was seen dragging an American flag along the sidewalk and the dirt along Eleventh Street outside the high school.

"Take that flag off the ground. You people are just trying to insult us,'' shouted Andy Perez, 35, of Tracy, who entered his niece's graduation late in order to heckle the Topeka group. "You losers wouldn't know God if he stared you in the face. Get on back to Kansas with Dorothy and Toto."

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/12/TRACY.TMP

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Can we permanently export Phelps

from Kansas? He is SUCH an embarrassment. Damn.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. He's a registered

Democrat. :puke:

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. good point

he's a DINO. So is Zel Miller.

[noahmijo]

24. He's a DIXIECRAT just like Miller

[Joebert]

2. Where do they get all this money?

They came to Fort Collins to protest during a CSU football game on the anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard.

They came to Colorado Springs during the Focus on the Family mess.

They go to CA for this.


Somebody has nothing better to do with their money than give it to these idiots to buy gas to drive out there.

Wow.

[BrotherBuzz]

10. Fred Phelps spawn are mostly lawyers...

I understand they raise money by sueing people and organizations that they don't like.

[oneold1-4u]

27. You "just gotta believe"

Miracles happen with TAX FREE MONEY!!

May be the right time to have an American Freedom From Bigotry Church, or Church of a Free Life! We could put up political signs all over church properties and preach political at the pulpit and never again pay any taxes!
At the moment, most Dems. give after taxes for every kind of support, and even the party is not exempt from many taxes across the country.

[justgamma]

3. Have any of the radical republicans

denounced this guy?

[OnionPatch]

26. Yeah, why is it

That we have to publicly denounce every extremist on our side of the aisle and yet the Republicans can be connected to this bunch and the KKK, etc., and no one says a word? I think we need to start pointing out these connections loudly and clearly.

[salin]

4. am I wrong - or isn't Tracy a pretty small community?

in which case - this turnour (in the counter protest) - is pretty significant.

[Momgonepostal]

6. Not really

I don't know it's population, but they have two large public high schools. My brother in law teaches at that school and says it's huge.

It's kind of a bedroom community for the Bay Area, so there are lots of ex-SF folks there. Not surprising that there'd be a big counter protest.

[salin]

8. thanks for the context

its been a few years since I lived in the Bay Area - and my geography could be a bit off. Any community that has two large highschools is certainly not small.

[Momgonepostal]

12. After I wrote that I realized that many would consider it small

It's all relative, I guess.

[Kadie]

13. Tracy has a population of 78,000

I did a search at the SFGate and found this related story from a few days ago.

Tracy's lesson in gay rights
As former farm town grows, it must confront big-city issues
Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, June 9, 2005


Tracy -- As the Bay Area spreads east over the Altamont Pass, its cultural issues follow close behind.

Take high school graduation on Saturday. Tracy is bracing for some out-of- town visitors: members of the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas, who plan to aim their "God hates fags" mantra at youngsters who forced school district officials to listen more intently to the concerns of gay students. If the church crew shows up, it is likely to be met by a couple hundred counterdemonstrators -- another sign of how attitudes toward gays and lesbians are changing in what has become a Bay Area bedroom community.

"A city like us that's growing and getting more diverse, we are going to be forced to have these discussions," said Julie Yuan-Miu, assistant city manager.

But change is coming slowly to the onetime farm town, whose population has nearly quadrupled to 78,000 since 1980. It's still a city unaccustomed to either protests or discussions about gay issues. This is true especially on graduation day, one of those snapshots of small-town America that Tracy's leaders love to brag about, when 5,000 folks will jam into the high school stadium in two separate ceremonies.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/09/MNG7GD5RND1.DTL&hw=tracy+ca&sn=001&sc=1000

[shanti]

38. tracy has an influx

of bay area transplants....LIBERAL bay area transplants. phelps' tactics, just like they did in santa rosa, are miserably transparent. we don't play that here in norcal!

[Momgonepostal]

5. I know a couple of people who teach there

It'll be interesting to get their takes on this.

That Phelps group sounds truly insane.

[TahitiNut]

7. "You losers wouldn't know God if he stared you in the face." AMEN!!!

I love California! :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :patriot:

[merwin]

22. "Get back to Kansas with Dorothy and Toto!"

That quote made me crack up!

[fortyfeetunder]

37. No, go farther than Kansas

Go back to Oz with the Wicked Witches and the flying monkeys!

[merwin]

39. LOL, yeah.

Wicked Witch = Condi
Flying Monkey = Bush
Wizard of Oz = Cheney

[0007]

29. I love the USA minus the anti gay assholes.

[NYC Liberal]

11. "God Hates Perverts" HAHAHAHAHA

Is is THEY who are OBSESSED with "gay sex"...they never seem to stop talking about it!! Who are the "perverts" here?

[darkism]

16. BWHAHAHAHA take THAT, Phelps!

Fucking lowlife.

[Skittles]

21. EXACTLY MY SENTIMENT

those arrogant bastards think everyone is as ignorant and disgusting as they are

[Califooyah Operative]

17. A Related Local Article: Tracy Press: 'A young man with a plan'

published this morning before protests-

Tracy Press

Saturday, June 11, 2005
A young man with a plan
Hime Romero/Tracy Press

Published June 11, 2005, in Our Town for the Tracy Press

Justin Daley is a young man with a plan. This fall, he’ll be a senior at West High School, and he plans to get his license in real estate when he turns 18. He’s already decided that after graduating, he’ll attend a junior college for two years and save his money so he can transfer to the University of San Francisco for his bachelor’s degree before going on to law school.

His goal is to be a civil rights attorney, but he knows civil rights isn’t the most lucrative branch of law. So he’ll continue to sell real estate to make money and make a name for himself. Why? It all supports his plan to go into politics.
At his side is Dana Daley, a proud but concerned stepmother, who helped raised him since he was small. This spring, when Justin spoke publicly about issues that concerned him — acceptance and safety of gay students and of those who question their sexual identity — she endeavored to navigate her way across a very thin tightrope.

On one hand, she wants him to stand up for what he believes in, to confront injustice as he sees it, even as he is mocked, and to know that she and his father are behind him, 100 percent. On the other hand, she watches as her husband checks Justin’s car for flattened tires, dried egg stains or words of hate written on his windshield or across the top of his car. And she feels a mother’s agony.

Dana and Justin’s willingness to take a stand for what they believe to be the right thing is why they were nominated for this week’s Spotlight.
more...

http://www.tracypress.com/ourTown/2005-06-11-spotlight.html

[MrModerate]

18. These Kansas fuckwits ARE doing good work . . .

By proving that opposition to tolerance and inclusiveness in everyday life is the provenance of the knuckle-draggers. Compared to these guys, Larry Flynt looks like a highly evolved being.

By all means spit on 'em as you drive by, but believe me, you'd miss 'em if they were gone.

[liberaliraqvet26]

28. the phelps kkklan is fantastic for pr purposes...

they piss off just about everyone. I just want to know where their funds come from? They do a lot of traveling and never seem to work.

[Maven]

32. I kind of agree.

As long as Phelps is around, he puts the truly ugly face on homophobia that it deserves; it forces people who like to think of themselves as "tolerant" yet vote against our rights to face up to the reality (that is, taken to its ultimately grotesque limit) of discrimination.

[Lindacooks]

20. "Followers and RELATIVES"???????

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Has to ship out his hapless nieces and cousins, does he? What a loser that Phelps pig is. Besides seeing phallic symbols EVERYWHERE, he has to draft his relatives?? What a pity party.

[noahmijo]

23. "Thanking God for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks"

"We're here to preach to this generation that it's not all right to be gay,'' said Betty Phelps of Topeka, who carried one sign thanking God for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and another denouncing gays. "They need to learn some morals before Judgment Day."


THIS is exactly the kind of shit that had me up in arms for the longest time.

Those lowlife scumbags those very kind telling US how to handle 9/11 how they were going to teach us about terrorism and how they used our state of New York like a whore to get their filthy agenda across.

In the meantime they were fucking celebrating those deaths those attacks.

They are the fucking American Taliban and this is complete and utter proof case closed.

If there is a hell there is surely a special place for them.

[cascadiance]

31. Damn right!

It is THEY who should be given tickets to be sent to Guantanamo! They are budding terrorists around our country and are the Kristian equivalent of Al Queda! Ship 'em out now!

[struggle4progress]

35. Three crosses burned in Durham NC not long after the Phelps visit here:

hate speech leads, as usual, to hate crimes.

[cascadiance]

36. Yup!

Time to weed out the terrorist cells they created there! U.S. Al Queda needs to be SHUT DOWN!

[CBHagman]

25. Nice use of subtext, Andy Perez.

"You losers wouldn't know God if he stared you in the face. Get on back to Kansas with Dorothy and Toto."

[assclown_bush]

30. This story makes me feel a little better,

About my country. It's nice to know that not everyone is homophobic. The Phelps Loonies do more to harm their cause than they help it...but they are still hurtful and just brimming with vile. Bravo to the people of Tracy who saw fit to respond to their insults.

:applause:

[mitchtv]

34. all the more sweet as Tracy's previously been known

as Nor Cals' KKK capital. Times have changed.

[Initech]

33. How did I guess Phelps was behind this?

That guy is a TOOL.

Somehow I dont think Jesus would approve of this guy. This needs to be in next week's Top 10!