Kansas anti-gay group pickets Alabama churches

[Judi Lynn]

Kansas anti-gay group pickets Alabama churches

The Associated Press
October 18, 2004


A Kansas-based anti-gay group ended a series of protests in Alabama with a demonstration outside a church that conducted the funeral of a slain gay man.

The Rev. Fred Phelps, pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., sent a group from his congregation to picket in Montgomery, Mobile and Bay Minette over the weekend.

Phelps' daughter, Margie Phelps, led the protests, waving signs with slogans such as "God hates fags," "God hates America," with some linking natural disasters and terrorist attacks to tolerance of homosexuals and others showing stick figures copulating.

The Phelps' group waved signs at members of the Crossroads Church of God, which conducted the funeral for 18-year-old Scotty Joe Weaver, who was beaten, stabbed and strangled by assailants on July 18.
(snip/...)

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041018/APN/410180723

[Occulus]

1. One of these days

someone is just going to say to themselves "enough is e-fucking-nough!", whip out a gun, and start shooting.

Does Phelps and his family have a death wish or something? All it's gonna take is *one* outraged father with a gun whose son has just been gaybashed to death. I'm frankly surprised it hasn't happened yet.

[sniffa]

4. no, they're Leaches

most of the pheLps' cLan have Law degrees. everywhere they go and protest, they try and sue the town, peopLe, whoever, for vioLating their rights, or not protecting them if they are attacked. they support themseLves (food, traveL, birthing more bigots) by sueing.

[saigon68]

20. REVEREND FRED AT THE UN

NOTE "CHILDREN" ARE A BIG PART OF HIS HATE MINISTRY.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

23. What the hell is a "Fag Enabler"

and why does God hate them. If I read Phelps correctly, not only are gays going to hell, but also all of their family members and friends who support them.

Hell's going to be pretty damned crowded.

[sui generis]

30. party in hell! woo hoo

none of this boring sexless flitting around crap with harp music ad nauseum . . .

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

34. and the food will be FABULOUS

[saigon68]

24. THE PHELPS CLAN LAW DEGREES

CAST OF CHARACTERS AND PHELPS FAMILY TREE

Reverend Fred Phelps: lawyer and Baptist minister; head of the Westboro Baptist Church; 64 years old. Disbarred.

Marge Phelps: wife of Fred; mother of his 13 children; 68 years old. WBC member.

1. Fred Phelps, Jr.: lawyer and employee at the Kansas Department of Corrections; 40 years old. Oldest son. WBC member.

Betty Phelps (Schurle): wife of Fred, Jr.; lawyer and owner-operator of a day-care home; 41 years old. WBC member.

2. ***Mark Phelps: businessman in Southern California; estranged from the family cult; 39 years old. 2nd son.

Luava Phelps (Sundgren): wife of Mark; childhood sweetheart; 36 years old.

3. ***Katherine Phelps: lawyer; suspended from the bar; living on welfare; 38 years-old; oldest daughter. Not in WBC.

4. Margie Phelps: lawyer and employee of the Kansas Department of Corrections; 37 years old; 2nd daughter. WBC member.

5. Shirley Phelps-Roper: lawyer at Phelps Chartered; 36 years old; 3rd daughter. WBC member.

Brent Roper: husband of Shirley; lawyer and businessman in Topeka; 30 years old; WBC member.

6. ***Nate Phelps: businessman in Southern California; estranged from family cult; 35 years old. 3rd son.

7. Jonathon Phelps: lawyer; 4th son; 34 years old; WBC member.

Paulette Phelps (Ossiander): wife of Jonathon; 33 years old; high school graduate; WBC member.

8. Rebekah Phelps-Davis: lawyer at Phelps Chartered; 32 years old; 4th daughter; WBC member.

Chris Davis: husband to Rebekah; 38 years old; raised from childhood in the WBC.

9. Elizabeth Phelps: lawyer at Phelps Chartered; night house manager staff at Sheltered Living, Inc. Topeka; 31 years old; 5th daughter; WBC member. Former counsel for the Shawnee County Sheriff's Department.

10. Timothy Phelps: lawyer and employee of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections; 30 years old; 5th son; WBC member.

Lee Ann Phelps (Brown): wife of Timothy; lawyer and employee of Shawnee County Sheriff's Department; 27 years old; WBC member.

11.***Dorotha Bird (Phelps): lawyer practicing independently in Topeka; 6th daughter; not a WBC member; changed her last name to avoid family's notoriety. 29 years old.

12. Rachel Phelps: lawyer at Phelps Chartered; YMCA fitness instructor; 28 years old; 7th daughter; WBC member.

13. Abigail Phelps: lawyer and employee at SRS-Youth and Adult Services, Juvenile Offender Program; 25 years old; 8th daughter; WBC member.

[sui generis]

29. wow! I really feel sorry for the "estranged" family members

I can't imagine having my entire family gone to that madness. Good thing they didn't drink the water!

[ninkasi]

54. As if prisons aren't brutal enough already...

anybody notice how many of this loathsome clan work in prisons, or for law enforcement? That disturbs me. With their attitudes, I pity any prisoner unlucky enough to cross paths with them.

[atommom]

2. Oh, hell, Fred's back! Just what Kansas needs to improve its image...

and the fact that he's still around after all these years, and still getting away with the things he does, speaks volumes. If you have the stomach for it, you can read his history here: http://blank.org/addict/

:mad:

[lil-petunia]

28. thank you for the site. I wrote a novel with a make believe charc.

like this, but reality is always crazier than fiction.

[Mizmoon]

3. You just KNOW this guy is a repressed homosexual

No doubt at all in my mind.

[Dulcinea]

53. I think Phelps is a closet case too.

Anyone that obsessed with the private lives of others has to be.

What a freak!

[mwdem]

63. My hairdresser just said the same thing...

Fred is so obsessed, he has to be repressed. What a disgrace!

[sui generis]

5. mental illness is congenital in that family

(hyuk, I said genital in a sentence)

I can't imagine anything more absurd that being so completely obsessed with that one topic. I wonder, when they get to the end of their lives if they will maybe wonder whether or not there was something better they could have been doing with their time.

What a waste of protoplasm.

[theHandpuppet]

6. I'm even more surprised...

... that the decent folks in Topeka aren't well and fed up with this crazy bastard and his brood of hateful loons. What great PR he is for Topeka, eh?

[MaryH]

8. Topeka is fed up with him

We all are. He is just a hateful nutcase. And Kansas City papers will not cover him - he is so hateful and obnoxious - and they don't want to give him and his loonies any press coverage.

Problem is what to do with cases like this. You can't just go out and shoot them. They still have the right to believe what they believe.

But how anyone can go to a funeral with a bullhorn to trumpet hate slogans just amazes me. A bull horn in one hand and a Bible in the other.

[Wednesdays]

13. What to do...

>> Problem is what to do with cases like this. You can't just go out and shoot them. <<

Perhaps we could declare them clinically insane, and have them committed?

[MuseRider]

10. We are.

We have tried everything, for years and years and years this has been going on here. Long before he spread out to the rest of the world. He has actually become good for business. They picket and people flock to that store to show their support. It happened to a friend of mine, I called him and he was having the best day he had had in a long time. My boys when small (they are now 18 and 20) were educated about sex early by viewing those signs of men "playing leap frog". They have been doing this here for so long. I wish that when the old man dies it would stop but it will not. Sorry people, I wish we could have stopped it here but they clothe themselves in the first amendment and make serious use of fax machines and your personal name if you dare confront them. Scary folks.

[Judi Lynn]

14. I found his biography. He's simply too odd for words.

There's a group of articles on Phelps compiled by the Topeka newspaper which will lead you to believe they view him as a major catastrophe.

http://www.cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/

From the section, "The Transformation of Fred Phelps," which says he was born and raised in Mississippi, and was close to going to Westpoint at one time, the following:

The June 11, 1951 issue of Time Magazine included a story on Phelps, then a Pasadena street preacher who lectured lunch-hour students about "sins committed on campus by students and teachers." The sins Phelps cited included promiscuous petting, evil language, profanity, cheating, teachers' filthy jokes in classrooms and pandering to the lusts of the flesh.

One day, police approached Phelps and escorted him to a police car, telling him his removal from the street was for his own protection because the crowd was becoming hostile. Police chatted with him, then released him after the crowd broke up. Phelps was back out preaching almost immediately after his run-in with the police in Pasadena, returning to preach from the lawn of a sympathizer near the school. His 1951 behavior was a prophecy of his behavior in Topeka in the 1990s: When he is challenged or told he is wrong, his resolve to continue becomes as tough and cold as tempered steel.
(snip/)

http://www.cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/stories/080394_phelps01.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looks like he's been doing this for a very long time.

Topeka is also the home of a world famous psychiatric hospital, the Menninger Clinic.

[klook]

7. God hates love!

And he loves hate! That's why God is such an awesome deity!

:puke:

[histohoney]

41. Oh please

Mr. Phelps hates, God does not.
Mr. Phelps,I fear, believes he has taken over for God.
Luckily most people know the difference, just a sad few are miss guided.

[klook]

50. Um, that was the point I was trying to make

in a sarcastic way.

:hi:

[Village Idiot]

9. I remember in 1999,

Fucked-Up Fred and his rag-ass band of religio-homophobes attempted to invade Canada, but Fred decided to stay home at the last minute (he knew he's be spending the night in the tank if he crossed the border) and his freeptard followers were delayed at customs, had all their material confiscated as hate literature, their hotel cancelled their reservations, they were followed EVERYWHERE by RCMP, and they had to cut their visit short...

From Customs: "Entering into Canada is a privilege, and if we suspect there is any problem, we can ask questions," he said. "Customs is the first line, and if they feel there is to be any secondary examination, then they refer them to Immigration."

GOD Hates Fred Phelps

[TrogL]

43. You missed the best part

They tried to set the Canadian flag on fire on the steps of the Supreme Court and couldn't get it going. Some RCMP officers ended up helping just to get it over with and get him out of there.

[fob]

11. I have two comments on this...

1 - Is Alabama becoming so LIBERAL that they have to outsource their religous wackos to Kansas? (Don't answer that, it's rhetorical and a joke to boot)

2 - Didn't this phelps guy play the evil funeral director guy from Phantasia?

[Endangered Specie]

12. If any of them show up at a funeral for gay relatives of mine...

Well, lets just say they will meet their maker well ahead of schedule.

[GOPNotForMe]

15. He looks like the evil preacher from the Poltergeist movies.

[MuseRider]

21. I was certain

that when my brother died they would picket his funeral since he was home with me here in Topeka and I made no bones about his work for the AIDS folks in Houston. He died of AIDS and his obit was 47 years old, single...just what they look for but they did not show. Must have been torturing some other poor family at that time. I was ready to take him out if he showed.

[ronnykmarshall]

36. Amen!

I'm not a violent person, but it the cause of Phelps and his bottom feeders, I'll make an exception.

[smirkymonkey]

16. It was a f***ing FUNERAL for god's sake!

What the F**K is wrong with these people???

This bizarre obsession and hatred is absolutely sickening!

[sui generis]

18. well, one day Fred Phelps is going to die

and when he does, we are going to have one big party at his funeral. There will be dancing on his grave, and people with signs and pictures of Fred Phelps roasting in hell and obnoxious bullhorns and much glee and celebration that there is a little less evil in the world.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

22. BYOB

I'm up for a road trip -- even it is to Kansas.

[MaryH]

31. Is that "bring your own bomb?"

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

35. Boyfriend...

You know, I'm hetero, but I'm tempted to sleep with another guy just to piss off Fred.

[crispini]

46. LOL

Now my coworkers are wondering what I'm reading. How would I explain THAT? :evilgrin:

[ronnykmarshall]

38. I'll be there!

When that worthless pile of shit dies (hopefully painfully and slow), I'll be happy to dance of that fuckers grave.

[wicket]

55. They even picketed the funeral of Mr. Rogers (of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood)

These people are sick!!!! :grr: :grr: :grr:

[MaryH]

17. I imagine the FBI watches Phelps pretty closely

I don't think his group is really all that large - they are just loud and obnoxious.

I have never figured out what makes people like that tick.

They are impossible to talk to. The minute you start to say something they begin a loud harangue and just goes on and on - they do not listen to anything anyone else says - unless its someone who agrees with them. Then everybody just yells "Amen, Brother, Amen."

[Zorra]

19. These people make Christians look like monsters. Like hate filled Nazis.

They are like the anti-Christ, because they make me want to get as far away from "Christians" as possible.

And odds are, every single one of them is a republican.

This is the "Christianity" of Bu$h and the republicans.

They spin everything. They have taken a religion founded on the principle of love, and turned it into a religion of hate.

[MaryH]

32. I don't think the Republicans want anything to do with them,

either. They are just nutcases. Unfortunately, they are nutcases that cause a lot of grief.

I wonder if someone could sue them if they showed up at a funeral with bullhorns screaming "God Hates Fags!" I would think the police could at least drag them in for disturbing the peace.

[TaleWgnDg]

25. big surprise, huh? this s.o.b. is still panders his "fag hating"

wares after similar displays upon the horrific murder of young Matthew Shepard, a gay student in Wyoming when he was impaled against a fence by hate-mongering gay-bashing parasites!

[davidinalameda]

26. Phelps

if there is a heaven and hell, I want to be there when he's judged

the man is evil

[ronnykmarshall]

39. I'd like to pull the lever

and watch his ass fry!

[jonnyblitz]

27. wow I never heard about this murder (whacko phelps aside)

pretty fucking brutal, too. :(

from the article linked in original post:

<snip>

The Phelps' group waved signs at members of the Crossroads Church of God, which conducted the funeral for 18-year-old Scotty Joe Weaver, who was beaten, stabbed and strangled by assailants on July 18.

Weaver's body was dumped in woods and set on fire. Investigators have pointed to the man's sexual orientation as a motive and have charged three suspects with capital murder.

<snip>

[Rambis]

33. There is a reason no one has heard of this clown

He has 8 followers and 6 of them are family members. They picket in Iowa city iowa all the time with there god hates... shit. He will burn in hell hopefully!:evilgrin:

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

37. You know you've tumbled down the rabbit hole...

when a church from Kansas is picketing a church from Alabama for being "too liberal."

[VegasWolf]

40. Yes! One pill makes you bigger, one pill makes you smaller. n/t

[Tropez]

42. What an evil man.

[arwalden]

44. They Put The FUN In Christian FUNdamentalist...

I honestly believe that this man has sucked a cock or two or taken it up the butt a few times in his life... and that he's a seriously repressed and self-loathing homosexual. What better way to PROVE that you're NOT a homosexual than by ATTACKING homosexuals, eh?

-- Allen

[Heddi]

47. Phelps visted SOuth Carolina a few times when I lived there....

and a good friend of mine, who is very trustworthy, said that after one of the rallies, she saw Monsieur Phelps frequenting an "Adult News and Entertainment" store in Charleston called "Big Jim's"

Now, I've been to Big Jims---they have every flavour of porn anyone could want...some freakishly funny ones too, might I add. They have dildo's galore, double-ended penises, pocket vaginas....everything a good old fashioned Porn Store..excuse me "Adult News and Entertainment" store would be expected to find.

Big Jim's also had (as it's now closed) peep-show rooms and glory-hole rooms. They were eventually shut down because of the prostitution and "public sex" that was going on there (although most of the sex wasn't for fee--it was just glory-hole fun, etc)

She said she saw Fred Phelps, wearing a terry-fabric sweatsuit cruising the aisles and questioning the guy behind the counter (her good friend Gary) about where he could go to "get him some fun". Gary pointed to the glory-hole rooms and Fred paid his $20 "key fee" and went in and stayed there for some hours.

My friend, who knew Gary and who knew who fred phelps was, stuck around, playing the video poker machines at the front and flipping through old copies of "Silver Foxes" and "Horny Huns" until Mr Phelps left the room, and came out with a (in her words) "REally large wet spot on the front of his terry-fabric sweat-suit".

As he was leaving, she accompanied him outside and asked if he was THE Fred Phelps. He ignored her until he heard Fred Phelps, and responded in a way that is completely subconscious and natural when you hear your own name-=--you turn your head and start to say "Yes"---but he remembered where he was...and quickly started walking away. She ran behind him saying "So are you THE Fred Phelps of God Hates Fags? I just want to know since you just engaged in what some people would assume would be anonymous, homosexual sex acts in a store that sells nothing but pornography, including gay porn". He ran to his car (a large buick-y type car) and drove away, flipping her off and calling her a fag enabler in the process.

Such a sweeter day was never had by her, and she stands by this story to this day (This happened about....7 years ago, perhaps more?). Says that she is SO CERTAIN that it was Fred Phelps because he's a very recognizeable figure in the GBLT community.

She swears on her soul it was him, and that he DID go into the glory hole room, and that he DID have a semen (or other liquid...ew...golden showers???) stain on the front of his light blue terry-cloth sweat suit.

ew
ew
ew

[arwalden]

49. Thanks For Sharing That, Heddi!!

:^) :hi:

-- Allen

[Heddi]

52. Hey I gotta spread the word, you know

In Psychology class many years ago, we were taught about a study (and I think someone said recently it's been debunked, but I don't know for sure), where the researchers were studying repressed homosexual behaviour.

SO they got, like 100 men who identified themselves as being homosexual, and they got 100 men who identified themselves as "homophobic".

They set these guys in rooms by themselves and hooked up electrodes all over their bodies, including a penis meter (not sure of the 'real' name) but it measured blood flow and erection.

They then showed the men a variety of images--soft erotica of naked men or women, males masturbating, females masturbating, and male/female porn as well as male/male and female/female porn. They wanted to gage the arousal factor difference between self-admitted homophobes and self-admitted homosexuals.

I believe that the results were that 80% of the homophobes were aroused by the sight of male-male sex, or male erotica/masturbation.

So it IS repression, in most cases (even without this study this is what I believe) that fuels homophobia as well as other bigotries.

I knew a guy in SC that was "AGAINST THE NIGGERS" and had his confederate flag waving and was into this White Power organization and was totally fucking this black chick every weekend. SHe was in a different town and didn't know about his white-power hobbies. Oh jeeze---when everyone found out they nearly killed him. His excuse was that he was Fucking Her because she deserved to be fucked, you know...that circular logic thing....

[karlrschneider]

45. Shit, even the preacher at the service was a fucking bigot according to

this:
http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/923/923_scotty.asp
:eyes:

[kayell]

58. What hell that poor kid went through

it makes me weep. It sounds like he was a wonderful, giving person and was turned on by those he helped most.

That preacher (not Phelps, although of course he is one of the evilist people on the planet) sounds like a vicious irresponsible hateful person. It sounds like she may have been the type to invite the Phelps clan. Ugh.

[Zenaholic]

48. The Awful Truth

Anybody remember the Michael Moore show The Awful Truth? Fred Phelps, jackoff, was in one expisode. Michael gathered up the most flaming gays you ever saw and put them on a big bus that had very large bumper stickers that said stuff like "Sodom is for Lovers". And they went and piad this loser a vist. Very funny. :)

[MADem]

56. THAT WAS A SCREAM!!!!

I LOVED that episode, it was as good as the DAYGLO wallet giveaway for Blacks in NYC, so your wallet would not be mistaken for a gun!!!

Some intrepid documentarian ought to do a full scale, long term work on this guy. Follow him around, do interviews, use the hidden cameras when needed, and find him doing what he should not. That would be the best way to shut his mouth for good.

[lforbus]

62. Funny Stuff

Classic Moore

[Robbie67]

51. THIS IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

And it's why John Kerry's mentioning of Mary Cheney was such a "tawdry political trick"

[BlueNomad]

57. Prime reason

why so many of the centrist friends I have in their 40s have moved more to the left. A nation which increasingly--under dubious leadership--is mum on genuine compassion and big on vitriolic hatred of others...

[Neecy]

59. just total whackjobs...

About 10 years ago, one of the grandsons decided to host the hateful WBC site on the servers at Kansas State University, where he was a student.

I called my very liberal sister, who is an alumni, and she and other alumni raised holy hell about this site being hosted on OUR tax dollars. K-State gave a song-and-dance about free speech, but we raised enough of a stink about it that the grandson moved the site to a private server.

You've got to keep your eye on this group, and fight them whenever you can, in whatever small way.

[scavok]

60. So that's where Phelps has been.

I was wondering where this creep was. The last few years he's been spreading his wonderful brand of hate around Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming at this time of the year.

October 12, 1998 is when Matthew Shepard died in a Fort Collins, Colorado hospital after being beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead outside Laramie, Wyoming. Matthew was targeted for this treatment because he was gay.

Phelps likes to commemorate this date as when "Matthew Shepard entered Hell".

This group has been known to protest outside the Colorado State - Wyoming football games and in the cemetery where Matthew is buried in Casper.

[StupidFOX]

61. Sad, sad people.

May they never know true happiness.

[bamacrat]

64. boo this man

how can someone who claims to be human do things like this? not being a homosexual i dont fully understand everything they have to endure on a daily basis. But being a liberal living in alabama kinda sucks too, to many of the backward hee haw hill billies like this man, liberal means homosexual. how can this guy expect to make it to "heaven".

[bamacrat]

65. boo this man

how can someone who claims to be human do things like this? not being a homosexual i dont fully understand everything they have to endure on a daily basis. But being a liberal living in alabama kinda sucks too, to many of the backward hee haw hill billies like this man, liberal means homosexual. how can this guy expect to make it to "heaven".

[atommom]

66. I was surprised, right after 9/11, when he DIDN'T get assaulted

(as I thought he might). He was flying an American flag with holes burned in it, carrying signs like, "Fags die / God laughs" .... and saying that God made the attack happen because we were too soft on homosexuality, and that the people who died deserved it. Emotion was running so high in those days that I almost expected someone to take him out. (Of course, it's rumored that he wears a bullet-proof vest.)