# Look out Australia! Fred Phelps is headed Down Under! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 6, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758 "2004-02-06T01:01:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dinaroozie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Dinaroozie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinaroozie)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/41 "2004-02-08T12:54:41Z")
Has anyone heard a song, I think it’s by the Scared Weird Little Guys, called “Come to Australia, you might accidentally get killed”? It pretty much sums the situation up as far as local deady fauna goes. I’d love to reproduce the copyrighted lyrics here in full, but something tells me that’s against the rules. **kambuckta:** We’re in a place called Coomoora, if you’ve heard of it. It’s about five minutes out from Daylesford, in the direction of Glenlyon. I’ve lived there all my life, too. As for being a local, I don’t know what qualifies - we’ve been on this block of land since 1856, but we’re white, so we’re of course still immigrants. 🙂 **blackhobyah:** Heh - that would be so incredibly sweet if the government didn’t let him in. Better yet, I think those detention centres might be appropriate here. ~ Isaac ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/42 "2004-02-08T14:59:44Z")
**blackhobyah** , thanks for the printing of the info that might bar Fred from entering the country. Only problem is, he might just send others in the family without him. But if anyone wants to make an issue out of it I can send his criminal record. white collar stuff, related to his former law practice. He has been disbarred from both state and federal practice here in the USA. I’ve told this funny story too many times, about the Phelps clan trying to burn a Canadian flag in Ottawa, Canada. But if you ask **matt\_mcl** nicely he might repeat it, as he’s the one who told it to me in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/43 "2004-02-08T20:16:52Z")
Does anyone have more information about Fred Nile? From the above-linked website, it doesn’t sound like he’s all that rabidly moralistic, at least no more so than many politically activist conservative Christian types around the US, and it looks like he’d be kind of liberal in the southern US. By Australian standards I’m sure he’s a bit out there, but what has he done? How rabid is this guy? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/44 "2004-02-08T20:55:06Z")
> [@lel](#): > > Does anyone have more information about Fred Nile? From the above-linked website, it doesn’t sound like he’s all that rabidly moralistic, at least no more so than many politically activist conservative Christian types around the US, and it looks like he’d be kind of liberal in the southern US. By Australian standards I’m sure he’s a bit out there, but what has he done? How rabid is this guy? Fred Nile used to be a very vocal opponent of all things that didn’t accord with his version of Christianity. He promoted ‘decent family values’ and rallied against the acceptance of homosexuality, divorce, abortion etc etc. He was most (in)famous though for his annual ‘coming-out’ to condemn the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras… appearing on the telly a few weeks beforehand bemoaning the direction our society had taken by our acceptance of such gross indecency and moral turpitude as would be apparent at the Mardi Gras. The thing is, for us down here, he is a raving loony. But by Southern US standards, he might _well_ be a liberal. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/45 "2004-02-09T01:51:11Z")
Oh her face is pretty, And her fanny is big, She looks like a model, But she smells like a pig."~~from Scary Go Round Bosda - I just saw your sig. and couldn’t concentrate on the thread anymore. You know what a fanny is to British English speakers ahy? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/46 "2004-02-09T05:40:51Z")
> [@MelCthefirst](#): > > “Oh her face is pretty, And her fanny is big, > She looks like a model, But she smells like a pig.”~~from Scary Go Round > Bosda - I just saw your sig. and couldn’t concentrate on the thread anymore. > You know what a fanny is to British English speakers ahy? If he doesn’t, I do. But in the States, fanny simply means ass. Commonwealth English has a different take on the term, and I wonder where the bifurcation originated. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/47 "2004-02-09T06:26:03Z")
Certainly at present there is a very clear split, whichever meaning of fanny one is talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/48 "2004-02-09T12:51:22Z")
> [@MelCthefirst](#): > > Oh her face is pretty, And her fanny is big, > She looks like a model, But she smells like a pig."~~from Scary Go Round > Bosda - I just saw your sig. and couldn’t concentrate on the thread anymore. > You know what a fanny is to British English speakers ahy? Que? 😕 No se habla heathen jabber. Explain, please? 😕😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![CheekyMonkey613](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@CheekyMonkey613](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheekyMonkey613)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/49 "2004-02-09T13:03:48Z")
Bosda … The Brits have a totally different definition for the word “fanny”. To me, it’s an ass. To them, it’s a female’s genitals. Thus, when you say “Oh her face is pretty, And her fanny is big, She looks like a model, But she smells like a pig”, there’s a WHOLE 'NOTHER connotation there! Mental images of BIG female genitals and all, plus smelling like a pig. I’m not gonna let my mind go there. Oy, I just did. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/50 "2004-02-09T13:33:11Z")
WHOOPSIE! Correction immanent! Stay tuned, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel! ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/51 "2004-02-09T13:52:09Z")
Before the fannys, we were talking about Fred. Well, you do need to factor in that he has been an elected member of the NSW parliament (MLC) since 1981, and for 12 years his wife Elaine was also a duely (re)elected MLC. “When I was re-elected against all the odds in 1999, I believe Almighty God was allowing me to continue my bridge-building role, my reconciliation role in the NSW Parliament and society”. “I have re-dedicated myself to be a responsible bridge-builder, so as to develop understanding and justice between all sections of our society, such as employers and workers, ALP and Coalition, Rich and Poor, Black and White and Young and Old, Catholics and Protestants etc” said Rev Fred Nile MLC. Of course Fred Nile has also resigned as a Minister of the Uniting Church following it’s decision to allow homosexuals into the church (shudder). I’d have to conceed that he’s not in the majors Stateside … but for us Fred , Cardinal Pell and Dr Jensen are really the best we have got. I apologise for our national failings. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/52 "2004-02-09T14:05:14Z")
> [@woolly](#): > > Before the fannys, we were talking about Fred. > > Well, you do need to factor in that he has been an elected member of the NSW parliament (MLC) since 1981, and for 12 years his wife Elaine was also a duely (re)elected MLC. > > “When I was re-elected against all the odds in 1999, I believe Almighty God was allowing me to continue my bridge-building role, my reconciliation role in the NSW Parliament and society”. > > “I have re-dedicated myself to be a responsible bridge-builder, so as to develop understanding and justice between all sections of our society, such as employers and workers, ALP and Coalition, Rich and Poor, Black and White and Young and Old, Catholics and Protestants etc” said Rev Fred Nile MLC. > > Of course Fred Nile has also resigned as a Minister of the Uniting Church following it’s decision to allow homosexuals into the church (shudder). > > I’d have to conceed that he’s not in the majors Stateside … but for us Fred , Cardinal Pell and Dr Jensen are really the best we have got. > > I apologise for our national failings. Now, look: you don’t really have to bump him off. Apart from anything else he makes _such_ a terrific strawman for arguments with more reasonable gay-bashers. “God says they’re evil!” “Fred Phelps is a douche!” There just isn’t a comeback for that. Fred Phelps, clearly, is a douche. Perhaps if someone were to show him the story about the gay penguins he’d run off to the Arctic circle and get eaten by a killer whale or sodomised by a polar bear or something… ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/53 "2004-02-10T00:32:10Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > I know all about Freddy. He pickets every artistic event or vaguely liberal speaker/comedian/anyone at KU. A friend of mine is doing the play _Corpus Christi_, a [rather controversial piece](http://www.wsws.org/arts/1998/jun1998/mcnl-j10.shtml) that mixes a Christ-and-the-apostles type scenario with homosexual themes, here in Seattle in a few months. And they’re sending press releases to the Phelps clan, _hoping_ he and his inbred little cadre of fungus-biters will show up with their signs and the attendant publicity. The irony, I presume, is unmistakable. ---
**Author:** ![leechbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@leechbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leechbabe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/54 "2004-02-10T01:47:21Z")
So Fred is going to be in Australia on Feb 28 is he? I think we might be able to arrange a suitable reception for him at [MelDope](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=236085)😃 ---
**Author:** ![big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_yellow_kingswood)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/55 "2004-02-15T05:14:41Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Fred Nile used to be a very vocal opponent of all things that didn’t accord with his version of Christianity. He promoted ‘decent family values’ and rallied against the acceptance of homosexuality, divorce, abortion etc etc. > > He was most (in)famous though for his annual ‘coming-out’ to condemn the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras… appearing on the telly a few weeks beforehand bemoaning the direction our society had taken by our acceptance of such gross indecency and moral turpitude as would be apparent at the Mardi Gras. My favourite bit is how when it looks like it’s going to rain on Mardi Gras, it’s always “God is showing his displeasure” and then usually turns out to be a nice balmy night. Of course, it pisses down like crazy over the Easter weekend pretty much every year. God is obviously showing his true colours. On a rainbow flag. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/56 "2004-02-15T05:59:55Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > A friend of mine is doing the play _Corpus Christi_, a [rather controversial piece](http://www.wsws.org/arts/1998/jun1998/mcnl-j10.shtml) that mixes a Christ-and-the-apostles type scenario with homosexual themes, here in Seattle in a few months. And they’re sending press releases to the Phelps clan, _hoping_ he and his inbred little cadre of fungus-biters will show up with their signs and the attendant publicity. > > The irony, I presume, is unmistakable. Something similar happened here in St. Louis… Webster U (my school) put on a production of “The Laramie Project” and Fred Phelps decided to stop by, causing much consternation. Then about a day before the play opened and good ol’ Freddie arrived, one of the students in the crew announced he had e-mailed Phelps to let him know the play was coming in the hopes that his appearance would help promote the show. He caught just a LITTLE bit of flack for that… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/57 "2004-02-15T14:35:33Z")
**SanibelMan** , did the WBC actually show? It’s not unknown for them to proclaim they will picket somewhere and then pull out at the last minute, ususally because of “threats against them” or “lack of promised police protection”. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/58 "2004-02-15T23:31:19Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > **SanibelMan** , did the WBC actually show? It’s not unknown for them to proclaim they will picket somewhere and then pull out at the last minute, ususally because of “threats against them” or “lack of promised police protection”. For which read “Couldn’t find enough fellow loonies prepared to turn up” I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/59 "2004-02-16T02:10:24Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > **SanibelMan** , did the WBC actually show? It’s not unknown for them to proclaim they will picket somewhere and then pull out at the last minute, ususally because of “threats against them” or “lack of promised police protection”. Oh yes. 20 of them to 75 or more of us, though I was out of town that weekend. The picture that covered the front page of the campus paper was of their 12-year-old grandson glaring at the camera and holding a sign, proclaiming, “God blew up the Shuttle.” [Here’s the article.](http://www.webujournal.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=412314) One plan I heard was for students to throw butt plugs at Fred. I don’t know whether they did or not. Sorry I missed it if they did. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758/60 "2004-02-16T02:32:10Z")
I’ve seen other signs of theirs like that one, like “Thank God for 9-11” They also said God killed two police when their helicopter crashed here in Topeka, for “the sins of the Topeka Police Department against the WBC.” I’ve done a lot of counter picketing against them though, but my favorite incident was when some friends and I had to cross one of their picket lines, to get to a local university production of the musical “The Rocky Horror Show” Blowing kisses at them made it all worthwhile. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-out-australia-fred-phelps-is-headed-down-under/227758.md?page=4)