There isn't a whole lot I can say about this. So I just thought I would share that the Westboro Baptist Church has announced plans to protest outside of memorial services for the some of the victims of the Continental Flight 3407 crash in Buffalo.
Because apparently the crash was caused by God punishing us for being nice to gay people. Not, you know, ice build-up or irresponsible use of autopilot or any of the other speculated causes. Those trained investigators are just kidding themselves.
One of the funerals they intend to picket is that of human rights activist Alison Des Forges.
Really, what can I add? It pretty much speaks for itself.
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I think the only thing anyoen can add to this is WTF?!
those people are fucking insane. nothing they do makes any sense.
I do have to give them credit for this, I think. To somehow manage to tie in a completely random plane crash with the gay rights movement is impressively creative.
I wonder why they don't picket every funeral following a tragic death, though. Seems to me they should be scouring the daily obits to find some little kid who died of cancer and go picket his funeral. Because clearly tragedy -- all tragedy, no matter how unconnected to homosexuality -- is the result of God saying "fuck you, America, for not hating the gays enough."
they do this kind of thing all the time. when my hometown made the news for the pregnant marine that was killed, they picketed with signs that said 'semper faggot' and "God Hates Fags and Fag enablers"... They believe that everyone in the world is headed for eternal damnation (except themselves) because of the rise of homosexuality and the acceptance of it. This is the reason they are against the military, stating that the military is full of "fags" and fighting for freedom to be fags.
you see? they are insane nutjobs. they should all be institutionalized.
They actually do picket the funerals of every single high-profile tragedy...the victims of the mall shooting in Nebraska, for example.
They are flat-out unhinged and have no regard for the feelings of the family members of the dead, let alone for gays and lesbians in general.
In Canada, a deranged man decapitated a young man on a Greyhound bus last year. Westboro Baptist Church wanted to come picket his funeral, because of his "filthy way of life," despite admitting that they knew next to nothing about him. Luckily, our then-Minister of Public Safety, Stockwell Day, banned the church's entry into Canada. Here's an article on the whole situation: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080807/funeral_protest_080807/20080807
These nutbags seize on any high-profile funeral to draw attention to themselves. This isn't the first time they've pulled a bullshit stunt like this.
My god, that was a national tragedy. I had no idea that the church was planning on doing this. I am sincerely shocked. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
And of course, the OP as well. Who the fuck do these people think they are? What if one of them were to die in a plane crash? What would they call that? Martyrdom?
They routinely picket soldiers' funerals. The Army is hardly a hotbed of gay activism (just gay activity.)
These folks are disgusting. How is this not hate speech though? Isn't this a violation of civil rights?
it might be hateful, but its not (criminal) hate speech. hate speech is only criminal if its part of a violent crime...even then to say that "God hates f*g*s" may or may not legally qualify as hate speech, since phrased this way its a statement of (1st amendment protected) religious belief.
One might be able to make the argument that it's fighting words, which are subject to restriction by the state. There's no serious penalty for fighting words, though (at least not in any state I'm aware of), so the only effect would probably be to give them publicity to whine about the violation of their First Amendment rights, while they get away with a slap on the wrist. Some days I wish you could make it illegal to be such abhorrent assholes, but I guess the right to free speech is pretty compelling, enough so that it's better to let a few assclowns through the cracks than risk inhibiting valuable, offensive expression.
They're very careful and very clever. They pool a lot of their resources into sending their kids to law school. They have their own law firm, and Shirley Phelps herself is a lawyer.
I wonder if they blame the gay for the weather, too.
Sometimes I wonder if Westboro Baptist Church is elaborate performance art designed to make the Religious Right look bad.
I was seriously wondering the same thing. Otherwise, I just can't wrap my head around it.
Not all Phelps's kids are part of his church. Ubyssey (the student paper at UBC) ran this article on a son that has become an atheist since leaving home:
http://www.ubyssey.ca/?p=5624
The recounting of physical abuse that the children experienced at the hands of their father is terrifying. I wonder what sort of pschological problems he's suffering from?
When the WBC were planning on picketing funerals in Canada (a murder victim in a highly publicized case), they were stopped at the border. Too bad. I'd hoped that they let the family in because they often bring their minor children to these things. I was hoping the authorities would seize the kids for their own protection. They seized the kids of a neo-Nazi in Winnipeg so there was a little precedence.
Eeeyouch. And here I was thinking that Phelps and co. were just doing it for the lawsuit money... seems he really does get off on hurting people.
Oh no. I think Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley are seriously ill. Perhaps they're just the product of abusive upbringings themselves but they are certainly not well enough to be functioning members of society.
As an atheist, the WBC actually make me feel sorry for Christians. I hate it when idiots become public representatives of my beliefs simply because they talk the loudest and I imagine that most Christians are appalled by this behaviour, ostensibly in their name.
This family seems pretty inbred if you see documentaries about them. They don't let their kids socialize with anyone outside of their church which is about eighty percent family.
Is this is the same organization that protested Heath Ledgers funeral because of his role in Brokeback Mountain?
I think so.
What kind of horrible people protest at someone's FUNERAL?!?! I mean...really, what's wrong with these people?
If it makes you fell better they only go to about a third of the events they say they're going to.
They did this at the funerals of some of the people who were killed at my school (Virginia Tech) in April 2007. I can't begin to tell you how infuriating it was to see people with signs saying that my friends "deserved" to die by the way they did, and I would be putting it mildly to say that it didn't help my PTSD. I wish that there existed a way to add them to the "terrorist" list for the terrorizing of people who have to find a way to live after terrible, life changing tragedies. Their pursuit of happiness ruins the future happiness of the people who morn their sons, daughters, husbands, professors, friends, etc.
Um, folks...the specific, admitted reason they do batshit insane, illogical, crazypants stunts like this is because it will get them lots of (drumroll please)...media attention!
I think even WBC knows that claiming that dead soldiers are god's punishment for our "acceptance" of homosexuality is total crap, but they do it because people will go apeshit over it. They're very much members of the "any press is good press" school of thought - that's the entire reason they go where the story is, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with Teh Gayz (like, for example, a plane crash).
In other words, ignore them and they'll go away. I'm not a big fan of that whole "turn a blind eye to fucked up shit" theory, but in this case, when literally their only intention is to get people to look at them and go "oh, what the fuck!", I think it's valid.
Thank you for saying this. The existence of this organization is almost entirely dependent on everyone working themselves into a rage over the completely intentionally horrifying things they say. They make a living off of the media attention they get and the lawsuits against people who try to attack them.
I totally agree with you; however another way to look at all the media attention they get is that it sheds light on the true feelings that lots of folks on the “Christian” right have. While most of our country is pretty homophobic, they won’t go picketing funerals. I think that these whack jobs can be helpful in a way to show everyone what hate really exists out there for the LGBT community.
Yeah, they so make me want to barf, but maybe they also make some people question their own hate for gays. Maybe? I don’t know, just a thought.
I don't think it really sheds light on true Christian feelings because they are so extreme it's ridiculous to lump them in with, well, anyone else. And as far as making other people examine their hatred of gay people... I completely disagree. In fact, I think people who are hateful can look at the Westboro Baptist group and find that their view looks a hell of a lot more reasonable. There are plenty of people who will condemn the KKK while still being completely racist. And besides, most of the uproar over the Westboro Baptists comes in relation to their picketing of non-gay or gay-related funerals. It's the military and tragic deaths that stir the biggest reactions. It doesn't seem to be that hatred towards the LGBT community that really upsets the majority of people.
considering that Jesus hung out with prostitutes, criminals, and other marginalized members of society, many of us christians today think Jesus would have been the LGBT movement's first supporter. :)
The Phelps scare the shit out of me.
I think Shirley is the worst. I actually don't even know what to say.
Oh, oh, I didn't mention that the first person to be killed at Virginia Tech was, Ryan Clark, a resident advisor who lived a few hundred feet from my old door room, who was a young gay man whose mother hadn't spoke to him in quite some time because the family was struggling with accepting his lifestyle. They made it a point to picket his funeral. I have never felt more revolted in my life.
I'm so sorry this happend to you, your friends, and the families. No one should have to endure that kind of harassment, but especially during such a difficult time.
I'm so sorry this happend to you, your friends, and the families. No one should have to endure that kind of harassment, but especially during such a difficult time.
As a Christian, these kinds of actions break my heart. This kind of hate and judgement is so antithetical to everything I believe Jesus stood for and encouraged in His followers during His time on earth. Somehow, I can't imagine Jesus protesting a funeral - any funeral. Prayer, yes. Support, yes. Love, yes. Protest, no.
The sad thing is, people like Phelps and his supporters don't get that their actions not only hurt the people who are mourning the loss of a friend or family member (Would Jesus really approve of intentionally hurting already suffering people?), but they hurt our faith as well. So many people turn away from Christianity not because they necessarily have a problem with the faith, but because they have a problem with the hateful, judgemental nature of so many of the supposedly faithful. My church - which is one of the few GLBT-friendly in the area - is filled with families and individuals that were kicked out of their former houses of worship because of homophobia or transphobia. I wonder how many simply gave up their faith because their former church community gave up on them.
I sincerely hope and pray that their hearts will be touched by His love and that they will be able to remember that we are ALL imperfect in God's eyes, and yet He loves us all just the same. Judgement is God's job. Living our lives and trying to demonstrate His love through our actions is ours.
I really dont think this kind of hatred will stop as long as religion is still around though...I mean, I understand that most of the homophobia comes from a personal discomfort with it, but because there will always be someone who thinks like this fred phelps guy, or even if it is just someone who wants gay people to be happy but just cannot go against what their church believes (a more liberal sect of christianity like catholicism or something) then this kind of prejudice and hatred will still exist. I'm sorry to say that, but it is true...some churches are changing their ways, yes. But until people truly separate the church from the state and realize that the church is not an institution that should be governing our lives, then things will never truly change. We all wish everyone could get a long, but that is not the reality of things...
ew that sucks so bad. alison des forges was one of the only people in the united states that was pushing for the united nations/the us to do something during the genocide in rwanda. of course the us just sat back and ignored it while she and others struggled to save the lives of millions of people. i am so saddened by her death, after all the amazing things that she did in her life.
This is fucked up.
They probably won't actually picket, they claim they will be at pretty much any funeral that's in the media but don't make it to the majority of them. It's all about publicity with Westboro Baptist and it works perfectly (look, feministing is giving them publicity right now!) These guys are real life trolls.
Fred Phelps is such a piece of shit. I don't even bat an eye at this sort of thing anymore. They do this shit because people give them attention, and they make their money when counter-protesters do something wrong, and then all his lawyer kids sue them.
I'm not saying you should just shrug your shoulders when they protest at a Funeral or do some other detestable stunt, but drawing more attention to it is really just doing exactly what they want.
I think that the better thing to do is stage a peaceful counter-protest, like the Buffalo angel-wing group referred to below.
Fred Phelps gets his kicks from creating trouble and emotional trauma. I can remember watching a documentary of him and he was producing signs for one the church's pickets and chuckling to himself over the slogans. I couldn't help feeling fond of the old coot. He seemed genuinely happy with what he was doing.
The Westboro Church are nutters and hateful, but they take things to such an extreme that occasionally (and probably unconsciously) there's something almost Zen-like to what they do. Almost, but not quite.
I spend my summers working at a camp heavily attended by kids from the Buffalo area, and many of them attend Zion Clarence Center. Such amazing kids with such strong faiths and such great support for the queer community shouldn't need to face hatred during difficult times (especially when Zion wasn't even having a memorial service for the crash; way to research, WBC). I was worried, but only 3 members showed up and Buffalo rallied to the occasion:
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/587487.html
They have also talked about protesting the funerals for the bushfire victims in Australia because we are a nation of gay rebellion:
http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20090216_australia-national-memorial-service.pdf
As far as I know, they didn't come here, since there was no coverage of this on our news (admittedly, the 22nd was my birthday, so I wasn't paying attention to them). A lot of people were hoping that they would be stupid enough to turn up, since freedom of speech is not enshrined in law here in the same way that it is in the US, but there are hate speech laws.
That and mocking bushfire victims in Australia at a time when arsonists are currently in danger of being lynched would likely be very, very dangerous for them.
I'm glad another Aussie pointed this out! I don't think they ended up going. They would have been absolutely mutilated by the rest of the people going. They are abolsutely disgusting.
I say, when the time comes, let's all protest Fred Phelps's funeral.
I think a party might be more in order.
I just hope that lots of gay people show up and make out fiercely.
That would be hilarious. I know some members of my church would be more than happy to spread some (GLBT) Christian love. :P
Actually, probably not. They would have the decency to pray for him and his family.
Or, they could have a pride parade while he's alive & lead it through his living room. And put it on Youtube.
TOTALLY THERE. IN THE BRIGHTEST COLORS I CAN FIND. OH MY GOD YES!
The good people of Buffalo ran Westboro out of town, literally, thank goodness... with thanks to the Patriot Guard (anti-Westboro protesters on motorcycles) and what looked like hundreds of counter-protesters (some with the 7-foot-wide white angel wings that people have used to counter other Westboro protests) lining the streets outside the various services, Westboro ended up being nowhere to be found. Yay for the City of Good Neighbors!
Just as an aside, Westboro links everything to gay issues b/c they think everything bad that happens on Earth is because of America's "pro-gay" atmosphere. First of all, anyone who thinks America is "pro-gay" has obviously missed the memo about how our country's current protection of basic human rights ranks right up there with Saudi Arabia and the Third World (thanks George W.)... gays can't marry, adopt children together, inherit each other's stuff, or visit each other in the hospital in many states, and all over the country they're subject to hatred, ridicule, and Scalia writing ridiculous Supreme Court opinions saying that we should all be scared of them. (My con law prof had a field day with that one.) Second, God doesn't punish us for being nice to people (the relatively instances of "pro-gayness" that do crop up in our country included), so if they want to try and explain 9-11 (they protest at military funerals), the plane crash, the Canadian bus beheading or anything else horrible they need to find another vein of thought.
Really, these are just a bunch of disturbed media-hounds who will do anything for their 15 minutes of fame. Like a curse-word-sign-holding version of Bill O'Rielly or Rush Limbaugh.
That's really awesome. I'm glad to hear people stood up to them.
What happens when they all die in a fiery auto crash?
Not that I'm wishing anything. Just wondering.
I'm not surprised by this in the least; I had first heard of the Phelps family when they picketed Matthew Sheppard's funeral. What they do is execrable, but something else that bugged me out is that it seemed to me like they weren't getting real media attention until they started picketing the funerals of soldiers. Because apparently gays and lesbians don't rate.
Does anyone else remember this upswing? I can't have been the only one outraged by the contrast in attention.
Does anyone else think that these people have mental health issues and should be examined?
I mean this in all seriousness.
Given the reports of child abuse by those of his male children who escaped, not to mention the requirement of practical slavery from his female children (forced into studies that would enable them to care for others medically at home, for example), not to mention the beatings, occasional starvation, and on. And on. And on.
Yes. At least some of the more junior family members have now undergone generational abuse.
do you mean the victims of Phelps, Phelps and his followers, or both have mental issues?
I think these people have been brainwashed to an extent that they are psychologically sick in the head. Some sort of control is necessary for these types of Evangelical churches.
I am from Topeka, KS, Phelps home base, and yes they suck. Here is the the thing I love free speech and part of free speech is that jerks are going to do inappropriate/infuriating things. Kansas knew that what ever laws they would pass to stop Phelps would be immediately challenged.
Now of course this is separate from the allegations of abuse, let's definitely get him for that.
I think one of my favorite ways to counter-protest the WBC is to hold us completely nonsense signs in those bright colors they use. "Penguin ShamWow! Babayfart!" "Computer Screen Pimplesnort!" and what have you. It's something which throws some irony their way with their arguments (Dyke nuns ruin America... really?) and gets people to laugh at something while WBC tries to make us all repent or burn in hell.
It also requires no interaction with them whatsoever. It's pretty sweet and I wait for the opportunity to do it myself.
Nth-ing everyone else who's said it -- WBC was supposed to protest up here in Boston a few months ago and never showed up. Though, the counter-protest I *believe* still happened. I unfortunately couldn't take work off.
Wow. Maybe the WBC isn't as out of touch with the Reiligious Right as we've all assumed. From the New Humanist's blog about the RR's response to the Academy Awards and Sean Penn's acceptance speech:
...the late Jerry Falwell's Liberty Counsel, which seemed to endorse the Westboro Baptist Church's activities, saying “[Sean Penn] was protesting against those people who were out front who were picketing in favor of traditional family values.
'Those people' were the WBC, right? I wonder if there were other groups protesting at the Oscar's. I thought it was clear that Penn was referring to the 'God Hates Fags' signs.
Ah, Fred Phelps, bless his soul... Without him, there would be significantly less humor in this world.