Long story short: a month or so ago, two gay Santa Fe residents were physically assaulted for being gay. A local church organized a candlelight vigil, which was very well attended. This weekend, some of Fred Phelps’ goons are going to be coming to our lovely town, protesting outside churches which they’ve deemed are too loving towards gays. I know a lot of people who will be attending services at these churches on Sunday in support of them.
The Santa Fe Reporter has an interesting story about Phelps this week. I’ve reached two conclusions about this entire situation.
Fred Phelps and the members of the Westboro Baptist Church are completely fucking insane. Utterly warped. Any vague wisps of sanity which they once posessed has left them. They’re not a little loony, they’re totally twisted. They’re hateful, too. They claim that they don’t hate ‘fags’, but God does, and they’re just trying to save them. They say that God hates all people. This means, IMO, that they either A) think way too highly of what this utterly hateful, vengeful deity thinks of them, or B) are cowards who are scared shitless of some hateful, vengeful deity that they read about in a book. Either way, they’re jerks. I don’t like them one bit, and I’d be quite happy if they’d fall off the face of the earth. Or at least stay tucked away in Backwardsville, Kansas, and leave the civilized world the fuck alone.
The people who are going to the churches that they don’t normally go to because Phelps is protesting are complete idiots. Don’t feed the trolls is good advice outside of a message board, too. Don’t give them the attention, because a bunch of backwards-thinking ass-licking god-fearing hate-preaching dustbrains ARE NOT FUCKING WORTH THE EFFORT!!! They’ve already gotten enough attention. They’re attention whores. They’re like that one kid in a TKD class I assistant-taught last summer, who would NOT settle down until you just started ignoring his antics, and kept ignoring his antics, and finally he realized that he was just being a stupid little twit and would actually get more attention if he did something right for a change*. These hate- or fear-ridden jackasses are the same. Or they’re like bees: ignore them, don’t harrass them, don’t try to play with them, and eventually, they’ll go the fuck away, all the way back to their little ‘compound’ in Bumblefuck**.
That is all.
*apologies to the kid; this is a bit harsh. A part of his problem was also that he was a 6-year-old boy whose parents dragged him from one activity to another as daycare. The Phelps-ites have no such excuse.
**No offense to Topeka. I’m sure you’re a decent place, a bit conservative for my taste, but I know that very few of you support Phelps.
The best approach I’ve ever heard to assholes like the Westboro loons is the Lemonade Protest (as in what you should do when life gives you lemons). Have people pledge money for, say, every hour, or half hour, or whatever, that the Phelps clan stays in town. All monies raised will be donated to a local gay rights nonprofit.
Actually, while I agree with you wholeheartedly that the entire clan is batshit insane, they are pretty damned smart. Crapload of lawyers and nothing to do but harass people for believing differently than they do.
The Lemonade Protest, mentioned by Left Hand of Dorkness, is probably the best way to go with these assholes. Because I can tell you from firsthand experience that getting in their faces is the wrong way to go.
You might find this site an interesting, as well as horrifying read. (I think it answers your question Lute Skywatcher.) As far as the OP’s assertations that he can “go back to bumblefuck” or “Backwardsville, Kansas”, I realize that you were directing your anger at Phelps and his followers, but you also hit some of your fellow Dopers (including me,** FilmGeek**, and I think Baker) with your invective. Topeka is the capital of Kansas, (hardly a “bumblefuck” place, our Capital building is considered one of the most beautiful in the nation, as this link to a page on a site about the city begins to show show) and sadly it’s also where that rat scuttled to and made it’s nest. That doesn’t mean he originates from Kansas, nor does it mean most Kansan’s embrace him. Quite the opposite. We don’t want him, you are welcome to keep him!
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve been picketed by the Phelps clan in Topeka. I was on tour with a musical that played the (quite nice) performance arts center there. I’ve always wanted to make a shirt that says “Fred Phelps Picketed Me!” but that may be going against the DNFTT attitude expressed by the OP. I was pissed off (and disgusted) by the picketers, but after a while I just had to shrug and go back to work. It’s a small group of nutjobs that nobody takes seriously, so you might as well laugh about it.
Um, when I say ‘laugh about it’ above, I’m not saying that I find their message amusing in any way. I just find their claims so utterly bizarre that I have to poke fun, much like Jack Chick.
Phelps pickets my church (from across the street) every couple of years. The last time, we just moved the church bus and left it running. Nothing like a big old diesel engine to muffle the insanity and screaming.
Fred is a sad, twisted, and hate-filled man. Hopefully he and his ilk will self-ignite, owing to the quantity of methane given off by their pronouncements, and the heat of his vitriol.
When it happens, let me know. I’ll bring weiners (or does that sound gay?) and marshmallows (??) A straight male, I’ll gladly roast alongside GLBT friends over Fred’s pyre.
1.) Sign with arrow pointing up that says, “I’m with stupid.”
2.) Sign with arrow pointing towards Phelps that says, “I’m not with stupid.”
3.) Hot gay sex stops Phelps.
4.) I didn’t die for your sins, Fred – Jesus
5.) I’m gay and I’m in the NRA!
6.) Hump a homo for Christ
7.) Fred, you suck! – God
8.) Keep up the good work, Fred – Satan
9.) Death to biped homosapiens!
10.) Keep this up, Phelps, and I’ll turn gay!
Show tunes still seem to work. I read an LJ entry a while back from a young lady who show-tuned some evangelists right out of her NYC subway car. Although maybe it was the jazz hands* that did it.
*Note to Mods: I hope the link to the LJ entry is ok, since it isn’t SDMB-related, isn’t snark, and is a funny story. Delete it if it’s a problem; anyone who wants a link can e-mail me if you do.
A friend-of-a-friend detailed his recent encounter with the Phelps World Tour here. It’s really quite an entertaining read, made all the more amusing by the fact that crawfish is a highly popular summertime food here. In addition to the usual homophobic bullshit, you get “God Hates America” and “Thank God for 9/11” (?!). Gotta dig the little boy holding the sign reading “Pope in Hell.” :rolleyes: (Anyway, isn’t “GSA Club” redundant?)
)