The fundamentalist US family church notorious for picketing the funerals of dead soldiers plans to carry out its first protest in Britain this week.

Followers of the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church have threatened to picket a sixth form college in Basingstoke, Hampshire during a staging of The Laramie Project, a play about an American youth murdered because of his sexuality.

The 'church' from Topeka, Kansas is mainly composed of relatives of the founder, pastor Fred Phelps, who style themselves the most hated family in America.

Their core belief – that God will punish the West for its acceptance of homosexuality – has seen them protest at dozens of servicemen's funerals brandishing garish placards stating God hates the USA and Thank God for dead soldiers.

Details of the church's first picket in Britain was posted on their website with the slogan God Hates England; Your Queen Is A Whore.

Some of the best Bible preaching in the history of the world came out of that dark dismal land, but now it is full of all abominations, the notice read: God will shortly destroy the UK and the world, but not until they have got the plain, clear message so that they will be without excuse.

The target of Friday evening's demonstration will be the Central Studio arts venue at Queen Mary's College, where local gay group Freedom Youth is staging a small production of the The Laramie Project this week. The play, which has roused the ire of Westboro followers in the past, tells the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay teenager tortured and murdered in small town America in 1998.

Maria Miller, Conservative MP for Basingstoke, said that she had contacted the Home Secretary to see what action the Government may be considering in relation to possible attempts by the Phelps family to enter the country.

She condemned the church's highly inflammatory language and behaviour and said the young people who had worked on the play would not be intimidated by threats.

Members of Anonymous, the nebulous online community that has previously organised protests against the Church of Scientology, are already planning counter-demonstrations outside the college on Friday, posts on internet message boards indicate.

Update: Phelps Banned from Britain

20th February 2009.  See article from guardian.co.uk

A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith.

Fred Phelps had vowed to come to Britain with his daughter, Shirley, to picket a school play in Basingstoke.

There was no evidence that the Phelps family, who tour the US spreading their message and have expressed a wish to come to Britain to preach at Speakers' Corner in London, had made arrangements to carry out their threat of picketing the play, but the Home Office said Phelps and other members of his family would be banned from entry if they arrived.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: The home secretary has excluded both Fred Phelps and his daughter from the UK. Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities.

The government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms. We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country … regardless of their opinions and beliefs.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week affirmed the Casper, Wyoming City counsels decision not to allow anti-gay pastor Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas to place an anti-gay monument in one of it's city parks, when the justices unanimously agreed that governments receiving monument donations for public parks are not compelled to take everything they are offered.

The city had placed a Ten Commandments statue, donated by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, in a plaza along with other monuments of historical significance and Phelps had sought to place his own monument in the Casper plaza condemning homosexuality.

Phelp's monument stated: Matthew Shepard Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning ‘thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22.

Matthew Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and subsequently murdered because he was gay.

The Casper City Council had denied Phelps' request in both 2003 and 2007.

Phelps had argued it was his First Amendment right to have his monument included.

Million "Fag" March
Rally at Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas
30th May 2009

Phelps and his church are notorious for their anti-gay protests of funerals and schools, claiming that most natural disasters and terrorist attacks are God's punishment for a society that tolerates homosexuality.

He is known for the slogans that he and his ministry use against people he deems sinful, including God Hates Fags.

According to organizer Chris Love, the primary goal of the March is to take the offensive, using the very same rights and laws as the Westboro Baptist Church. Love says his event expresses a message of acceptance of all people; a message that the group hopes will spread beyond the Topeka church.

Last year's event -- the first -- drew a crowd of 420 people from all parts of the country. Love said that the 2008 March was a diverse mix of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and political viewpoint that drew national media attention. The March stresses the use of peaceful and lawful demonstration, and is open to anyone who wishes to join without fear of negative incident.

Over 100 students gathered to demonstrate against six protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) advocating against the University of Chicago's employment of Barack Obama.

The WBC protesters arrived carrying signs reading God hates the world and Bloody Obama. They allowed people to photograph them and held up their signs, smiling. At one point, Shirley Phelps-Roper, WBC's spokeswoman, sang a joyful rendition ofGod Hates America.

They were accompanied down the street by a group of students mocking the WBC's message. The students held a sign reading Figs Doom Nations and planted themselves across the street from the WBC, drawing from a Biblical passage in which Jesus disparages a fig tree.If you need scanty biblical evidence for anything, we've got it, said fourth-year Carmel Levy as he handed out flyers containing biblical citations that read: Jesus rebuked the fig as an evil abomination and God Promises Terrible Vengeance Upon Any Fig-Loving Nation.

We just wanted the world to know that God's vengeance doesn't just fall on the gay, but also on the fruit, said fourth-year Max Shron.

WBC protesters moved to the Midway to protest the Law School at around 1:00 p.m. Far from being fazed by what they had encountered, they were delighted. I truly and dearly love it, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, the group's spokeswoman: It is so awesome when you juxtapose this little group of servants of God with this restless mob of humanity.These people think that they have the power, this arrogant nation, to change God. The little girly boys up there with their clothes half off gyrating around—they might as well flip off their god.”

Deputy Dean of Students for Student Affairs Martina Munsters came away with a positive impression of the counter-protest.

From what I'm hearing, it sounds like things went really well. There was no confrontation...[and] students seemed to be pretty upbeat, she said: They even raised about $500 for charity, which I think is tremendous.

The universally reviled nutters of the Westboro Baptist Church are threatening to picket an east London primary school over its anti-homophobia work.

A row broke out at George Tomlinson primary school in Waltham Forest, north-east London, earlier this month when some parents pulled their children out of lessons planned for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender history month. The school used books on homosexual relationships, in one case between two male penguins.

Members of the Westboro Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas say they will picket the school next Friday afternoon.

The group's founder, Reverend Fred Phelps, was barred from entering Britain last month to stop him spreading extremism and hatred. He had intended to picket a play about a homophobic killing.

A message on the group's website announcing their plans said: God hates the UK and the Tomlinson school fag tyranny, where conscientious parents face religious persecution for withdrawing their children from lessons on lying fag so-called history.

Westboro Baptist Church says it will picket the funeral of Natasha Richardson who died after a skiing accident.

Besides Richardson, who the 'church' says has been targeted because of her donations to AIDS research, her marriage to Liam Neeson, (it's not his first) and her involvement in theater, which the 'church' sees as a haven for homosexuality,

The Westboro Baptist 'Church' of Topeka, Kansas is notorious for its tasteless and frequently nonsensical anti-gay protests.

However, the Westboro protesters may have overreached when they attempted to picket Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD, because it is named after the nineteenth century poet who many biographers believe to have been either homosexual or bisexual.

Whitman sophomores Ryan Hauck and Amar Mukunda set up a Facebook group to generate support for the counter-protest through which more than 600 students have committed to attend.

As it happened, the turnout far exceeded Mukunda's expectation of a couple of hundred. The Washington Post reports that faculty had spun the event into an interdisciplinary lesson. English teachers spent the day teaching Whitman's verse. Social studies teachers led a unit on tolerance. Math teachers fanned through the crowd, attempting a head count.

Although the handful of picketers initially had the street to themselves, that changed dramatically when school was dismissed at 2:10 and five hundred students marched out, chanting the school name alternating with Go home!

LGBT group Driving Equality had even set up a Phelps-a-Thon webpage, promising, For every minute the 'God Hates Fags' clan is protesting, we will be collecting donations for the Walt Whitman High School gay/straight alliance. ... You can pledge any amount you chose, whether it be $0.25, $0.50, $1, or even $2 for every minute they protest. ... After the event, we will send Phelps a thank you card, telling him how much money he raised for LGBT equality.

A cryptic blog post on the Westboro Baptist Church’s website hints that their mission is coming to an end:

BECAUSE IT’S ALMOST TIME TO LEAVE…THAT’S WHY DUMMY!

We are particularly urgent about it, because the time is shortly to come when we will grant you your wicked wish, Doomed america!

Let us see how that is shortly now to play out, my angry little sodomite-loving friends. It’s about time for us to leave this place.

When we’re done, we will leave your filthy land and be placed safely out of the reach of the horror that will then land upon you swiftly and certainly – in one hour.

We pray it to be any day now, for the promises of our God are sure and certain. We finished our job in Napa County – one of the few we have left – and then went to tell the Saints of our God-blessed exploits and our joy.

We gotta go, peeps! We gotta go! And when we do, it’s time for this filthy nation to receive of all the plagues that your Creator has promised. The reason there is such urgency in those words … such passion in the irresistible call from our Saviour, Husband, and Friend … is because when that time comes for this rebellious nation – which is spiritually called Babylon and has become literally Babylon by the inexplicable and forcible snatching of that Mesopotamian land where ancient Babylon sat – it is going to be very fast and very violent, such that all mankind is utterly and simply amazed. Check out the words, fools … it’s all about the words!

Westboro recently lost a massive lawsuit and are bordering on bankruptcy. Their protests have resulted in a backlash from parties well beyond gays and lesbians. Their dynamic leader Fred Phelps is in bad health and some claim near death. Now they want to end their mission and go be with God.

Update: Should We Ignore Them

17th May 2009. See article from blog.beliefnet.com. Thanks to Alan

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka Kansas is at it again. This time the target is Jews.

Combining ancient and contemporary forms of anti-Semitism, they continue their traditional combination of hate-mongering and apocalyptic doom. But with only 71 members, I really wonder if it even makes sense to pay them any attention at all. What do you say?

Should groups like this be covered? Are we better off ignoring them? Is that something that decent people can afford to do?

Wherein lies the proper balance between the necessary monitoring of hate-groups and turning such monitoring into a lucrative fear-mongering business of its own?

The funeral of a slain doctor who carried out controversial late-term abortions was held Saturday amid tight security, six days after he was shot dead.

Nutters from Rev Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church inevitably turned out to picket the funeral services for Dr George Tiller.

Around 1,000 mourners gathered in Wichita, in the central US state of Kansas, for the burial of Tiller who was gunned down in the foyer of his church.

Police outside ringed off groups of protesters who held signs claiming God sent the shooter and God hates abortions.

Counter-demonstrators lined the sidewalk directly outside the church, holding white carnations and sporting buttons identical to the one Tiller had worn for decades, which read attitude is everything.

Many anti-abortion groups have denounced his killing and distanced themselves from his alleged killer, Scott Roeder. Earlier this week Roeder was remanded on a five-million-dollar bond, while he faces a state charge of first-degree murder.

Counter Protest

See article from kcjc.com, thanks to Alan

About 100 counter-protestors showed up Saturday morning to show their disdain for the members of Topeka's infamous Westboro Baptist Church who were there to picket Congregation Ohev Sholom.

It seemed like most of the crowd was Jewish, but there were clearly members of other faiths present, too, from Christian clergymen such as the Rev. Bob Hill to Buddhist leader Lama Chuck Stanford in his red robes to Sikh leader Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa in his white garb and turban. The day before the demonstration, Rev. Hill sent out a notice to members of a local interfaith clergy coalition, alerting his colleagues to the event.

WBC founder Fred Phelps wasn't in sight Saturday, but four adults, five children and one young woman who appeared to be a teenager held up signs reading things like God Hates Fag Enablers and You're Going to Hell. One man wore an Israeli flag with one end tucked into the front of his shorts, stepping on the flag as it dragged across the ground.

They stayed on the northeast corner of the intersection, surrounded by police, for 45 minutes, occasionally shouting things at the larger group gathered on the other side of the Street. At one point, they sang to the tune of Hey Jude the following refrain: God hates evil, reprobate Jews; God hates you, You Christ killers.

The counter-protestors mostly stayed quiet and held up home-made signs with such messages as God is Love and Honk if you love Jews. At one point, they broke out a rendition of We Shall Overcome.

The Fred Phelps God Hates Fags lunatics weren't getting enough attention with the picketing of soldiers' funerals and whatnot, so now they are just straight-up taking on the Jews. Hey, they're coming to New York!

This coming Sunday, in New York City's Central Park, the Phelps clan plans to visit an Israeli tourism event, with a calendar entry that reads:

All the remainder can sit and stew in your own filth, remain filthy until the day God spews you out of the land and punishes you for never repenting from having killed Jesus. You will be destroyed at the hand of Antichrist Obama, and you will eat your little cute, chubby, Kosher babies.

Update: Sponsored Hate

28th June 2008. See article from nydailynews.com, thanks to Alan

A Manhattan synagogue turned a visit from hate-spewing demonstrators into a lucrative fund-raiser.

Leaders of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, a West Village synagogue that caters to gays and lesbians, didn't want to ignore a planned visit by members of the rabidly anti-gay and anti-Semitic Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church.

Instead, they asked supporters to pledge a dollar or more for every minute that six protesters stood near their synagogue hurling epithets and holding signs that read God Hates Fags and Jews Stole the Land.

The final haul after 50 minutes: $10,000.

A new flier distributed by the Westboro Baptist Church invites its supporters to protest gay icon and equality advocate Lady Gaga, in St. Louis Missouri, the first week on January.

According to the Bible homosexuality is an abomination and she has to shut her filthy mouth and stop promoting it, says attorney and Westboro member Shirley Phelps-Roper, reports Radar Online.

Surreal statements from the event listing on Westboro Baptist's web calendar include:

Lady Gaga has no qualms about displaying her filth for all the world to see, using the platform given to her by God to teach rebellion against Him. She loudly and proudly proclaims her fornication and sexual relations with women, saying that she wants to free and liberate her young fans. Gag! She glories in her shame, encourages everyone she can get her hands on to do the same....Like the many whores who came before her, Lady of the night Gaga thinks she can change God by teaching you to hate Him and liberating you from His standards. ....

And to all those that would follow the example of this treacherous tart.... this warning from God: ....I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. Lev. 26:27-30. Catch that? Because you won't obey, God will cause you to eat your children, He'll cast your dead bodies on those of your idols, and He'll abhor you. Obeying God is your only recourse at this hour. But because you heed the words of stupid rebels like Lady Gaga INSTEAD of the God who created you, this generation is doomed.

Gaga has been an avid supporter of gay rights, famously appearing at the Marriage Equality March in Washington, D.C. in October.

The Westboro Baptist Church, home of the best known anti-gay protest organization in the US, led by Fred Phelps, has a new target for its public outcry. The organization were set to be picketing outside the San Francisco headquarters of Twitter.

NBC Bay Area reporter Jackson West unearthed the schedule for the group's trip to the Bay Area and writes that after a day of protesting outside Jewish organizations, the congregation will travel to Twitter's brand new office.

The organization says that they aren't protesting against Twitter, rather encouraging the organization to do its duty in serving God. Megan Phelps-Roper, granddaughter of Pastor Phelps, tweets: Don't be silly! We're not protesting Twitter as a platform; that's like picketing television! =) We're picketing the people who run @Twitter, who don't use their position & voice to warn a generation of rebels of the consequences of their rebellion.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the father of a fallen soldier can sue religious protesters for picketing at his son's funeral with signs that read Thank God for dead soldiers.

The case will test the boundaries of the Constitution by weighing whether extreme speech that inflicts emotional pain -- especially at sensitive venues such as memorials -- should be protected by the First Amendment.

Members of Westboro Baptist Church, led by pastor and founder Fred Phelps in Topeka, Kansas, have protested at military funerals to express their belief that America is being punished for tolerance of homosexuality.

Westboro protestors traveled to Westminster, Md., to picket at the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who killed in combat in Iraq on March 3, 2006. They marched around the outskirts of St. John's Catholic Church and the cemetery with signs that read God Hates the USA, Fag troops and Pope in hell. After the funeral, Phelps also posted material on his Web site against the fallen Marine, saying his father had taught Matthew to defy his creator and raised him for the devil.

Odd bedfellows are standing side by side with Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church in a demonstration of First Amendment fundamentalism. They've filed a friend of the court brief in favor of the right to infuriate families of the fallen with those vicious funeral protests.

The list includes the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Dow Jones, the E.W. Scripps Company, the Hearst Corporation, NPR, The New York Times, and the Tribune Company (parent of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times).

Jeff Schogol of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported these companies joined other free-press advocates in supporting these hateful incitements:

The media organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church, which protests near service members' funerals because it believes that troops' deaths and other national tragedies are divine revenge for America's tolerance of gays and lesbians.

The father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died in Iraq in 2006, sued the church for picketing near his son's funeral with signs that said God hates you, You're in hell and Semper Fi fags. They also distributed a flier with Snyder's picture on it that read Burial of an Ass.

Snyder's father, Al, won at trial, but he lost an appeal and was ordered to pay more than $16,000 in court costs. The latest case will be heard by the Supreme Court in the fall.

While not defending the Westboro Baptist Church's actions, the 22 media organizations argued that the church is protected by the First Amendment. They also contend that the case could have a chilling effect on news gathering if Al Snyder prevails.

In the brief, the media groups argue that speech cannot be deemed too offensive to be protected by the First Amendment.

Comic fans beware: The man who believes that god hates...well...everyone but his family is headed to San Diego Comic-Con on July 22.

Fred Phelps on the official Westboro Baptist Church site, wrote:

If these people would spend even some of the energy that they spend on these comic books, reading the Bible, well no high hopes here. They have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them they do! Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not. It is time to put away the silly vanities and turn to God like you mean it.

The destruction of this nation is imminent - so start calling on Batman and Superman now, see if they can pull you from the mess that you have created with all your silly idolatry.

Hopefully the creative guys at Comic-Con can come up with an amusing counter action.

Update: Bite my shiny metal ass

26th July 2010. Based on article from inewp.com

Fortunately, those at Comic-Con knew about Westboro's plans and prepared to meet them head on in a counter-demonstration. Obviously, Phelp's followers were massacred.

Led by an individual in a Bender costume from the cartoon Futurama, Comic-Con nerds dressed in various outfits held humorous signs that effectively counter-demonstrated.

Memorable moments include Bender megaphoning Bite my shiny metal ass to the Westboro congregation while holding a sign that read Kill All Humans and a person in a Buddy Jesus getup holding up a God Loves Everybody sign contradicting Westboro's signs that read God Hates Fags , God is Your Enemy , You're Going To Hell . Signs like God Hates Kittens and God Hates Jedi also accompanied the counter-protest.

In the face of supposed new evidence of the increasing levels of children sexually abusing other children the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has called for both major political parties to immediately commit to a comprehensive review of the classification system across all media.

ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said the classification system is broken and that the lack of effective regulation of what is being viewed and read in the community must be acknowledged as at least part of the reason behind the appalling growth in sexualised and sexually abusive behaviour in children.

Revelations by the Australian Crime Commission's National Indigenous Task Force that between 40 and 90% of sexual offending against children was committed by other children – and that the problem is not confined to indigenous communities – should deeply concern all Australians and demand an urgent response from our political leaders, Wallace said.

There has been widespread acknowledgement of the role of the media environment in sexualising children but despite inquiries and talkfests, nothing gets done.

Children don't learn sexualised behaviour in a vacuum and we know that viewing pornography is often associated with this problem. However it goes much further than this, with children continually being bombarded with overtly sexual messages by everything from billboards to films to music videos. When the problem is getting this bad it is time for real action to be taken.

Wallace said a comprehensive review is needed because Australia's classification system has not kept pace with technology and is effectively a toothless tiger even when standards are breached – with no real penalties for those involved.

Growth in technology has meant that Australia's classification system doesn't even apply to a range of new media content, such as mobile phone applications. And where the classification system does apply it is completely ineffective – with standards rarely being enforced and the penalties being laughable even when they are.

India's president is being pressed to protect Christians in the country's northern Kashmir region after a muslim mob burned down the oldest school there and also attacked other Christian institutions nearby.

I am pained to state that though the local authorities were informed about a possible attack … no protection was provided, stated the Rt. Rev. Pradeep Kumar Samantaroy in a message to President Pratibha Patil.

You are aware that the Christians in the State of Jammu and Kashmir are a tiny minority who always live and serve under stressful and sometimes threatening situations, the Church of North India bishop added: The present situation has made the Christians in Jammu and Kashmir feel very insecure.

Hundreds of Muslims in the divided region of Kashmir took to the streets in violent protest over the reported desecration of Qurans in the United States.

Around two dozen people reportedly died in the clash that ensued between police and protesters, and the Tangmarg Tyndale Biscoe branch school was burned to ashes.

In a statement, the activist who helped organize the Quran desecration said his group was truly sad to hear of the deaths that followed Saturday's anti-Quran demonstration in front of the White House. But he said to blame them for the violence is ludicrous.

In addition to the Tungmarg Tyndale Biscoe branch school in Kashmir, other Christian institutions also came under attack, including the Roman Catholic Good Shepherd High School at Pulwama that was also set on fire and the Church of North India hospital at Anantnag that was stormed by protestors, two of whom were shot and killed by security forces.

An Islamic organization that claims to represent the collective voice of the Muslim world is trying to get the U.N. Human Rights Council to pass a resolution condemning the highly-publicized and now-defunct plan of a U.S. preacher to burn Qurans.

In a draft resolution submitted by Pakistan, the 57 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) expressed their concern over the instances of intolerance, discrimination, profiling and acts of violence against Muslims occurring in many parts of the world.

They also called upon the U.N. Human Rights Council to condemn any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to hatred, discrimination, hostility or violence, and to call upon the international community to stand together against acts that undermine peaceful coexistence between nations and create an environment conducive to violence and reprisal.

Specifically, their resolution asks the council to speak out against the recent call by an extremist group to organize a day to burn copies of Islam's sacred text, the Quran.

Aside from the resolution on the planned Quran burnings, OIC is also trying to push through another resolution that it has brought before the U.N. Human Rights Council every year over the past decade.

The resolution, which OIC has annually sponsored since 1999, seeks to make the defamation of religions a human rights violation, saying that the defamation of religions, and incitement to religious hatred in general, could lead to social disharmony and violations of human rights.[As per Pakistan].

It claims there is a need to effectively combat defamation of all religions and incitement to religious hatred in general and against Islam and Muslims in particular.

The OIC resolutions, together with others yet to be submitted at the council, are likely to be voted on when the council wraps up its current autumn session at the end of next week. The council's 15th session, which commenced Sept. 13, concludes on Oct. 1.

On October 6, the US Supreme Court takes up a case examining whether members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, went too far when they staged a protest at a fallen marine's funeral in Maryland. The demonstrators hoisted signs proclaiming: You Are Going to Hell and Thank God for Dead Soldiers.

Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro church, has made a career out of using blunt and offensive statements to try to shock Americans into joining his crusade against gay rights. His followers show up at military funerals and announce that God is killing American soldiers for the sins of the country. Funeralgoers are urged to repent... or else.

In Maryland, it was too much for the grieving father, Albert Snyder, to endure. He sued. The case pits Snyder's First Amendment right to peacefully assemble in a church to mourn his son's passing against the Westboro protesters' right to chant harsh slogans and display shocking signs in their campaign for moral salvation of the nation.

I suspect neither Phelps nor Snyder will change their point of view no matter what happens in the case, says Christina Wells, a law professor and First Amendment scholar at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law: Somebody is going to be unhappy. But the debate [surrounding the case] hopefully will foster understanding of why we have the First Amendment we do.

...Read the full article

Comment: Supreme Court appears inclined to rule against funeral protesters

8th October 2010. See article from religionnewsblog.com

Despite free-speech concerns, Supreme Court justices sounded sympathetic to a lawsuit filed by the father of a Marine killed in Iraq whose funeral was picketed by protesters.

The justices appeared inclined to set a limit to freedom of speech when ordinary citizens are targeted with especially personal and hurtful attacks. The 1st Amendment says the government may not restrict free speech, but it is less clear when it shields speakers from private lawsuits.

Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen G. Breyer, usual defenders of the 1st Amendment, said they thought people could be sued for outrageous personal attacks. Kennedy said certain harassing conduct was not always protected as free speech. Torts and crimes are committed with words all the time, he said, referring to legal wrongs that result in lawsuits. The 1st Amendment doesn't stop state tort law in appropriate circumstances, Breyer added.

It will be several months before the court makes a ruling in the case.

The nutters of the Westboro Baptists have taken aim at a gay themes play in LA.

They were set to protest outside the downtown Pico Playhouse who are putting on a production of The Laramie Project .

This is a play by Moisés Kaufman and is based on news reports, journal entries and more than 200 interviews of people in Laramie in the aftermath of the murder of Matthew Shepard. It covers the town's reactions, the funeral and the trial of the killers (the court found that their motive for the attack was that Matthew Shepard was gay). The play does not advance a gay agenda (contrary to what the WBC contends) and has been performed nationwide and all over the world (including high school and college productions) since 2000. The Westboro Baptists are featured in it (they picketed Matthew Shepard's funeral) and they often picket its performances.

The Westboro Baptists have outlined their objections in typical hateful style:

Judy Shepard raised her son to be a disobedient pervert, and God cut that child off. His blood is on her hands! From the day that he was cut off to today, Judy Shepard has spent all her resources on teaching the young people of this nation the same rebellion that caused God to cut off her own son; and making a profit on it! How sick is it to make money off of a child who is dead at your hands?! Matt Shepard has been in Hell now for twelve years, with eternity left to go on his sentence; without appeal, parole, or time off for good behavior. All else about Matt is trivial and irrelevant. Deal with it! Be not deceived; God is not mocked. Gal. 6:7.

God Hates Fags! God Hates Fag-Enablers! Ergo, God hates fag-infested & fag-enabling Los Angeles, CA and all having to do with spreading sodomite lies via The Laramie Project; a tacky piece of cheap, lying, fag propaganda masquerading as legitimate theater.

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith. Lev. 18:22, 23

Arizona lawmakers are set to rush through legislation aimed at preventing Westboro Baptist nutters from protesting at the funeral of the youngest victim of the Tucson massacre.

The reprehensible picker was said to be the final straw for a community in the aftermath of the weekend massacre.

State lawmakers are attempting to rush through legislation which would prohibit protestors from coming within 300 feet of grieving mourners at funerals.

House spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said the legislation is in direct response to the hate church's flier on its website saying God hates Catholics and their plans to disrupt Saturday's funeral.

Update: Community stand against Westboro nutters

13th January 2011. See article from guardian.co.uk

The Arizona legislature has now passed emergency legislation to prevent Westboro Baptists from disrupting the funeral of a nine-year-old victim of Saturday's shooting.

The new law, proposed by a state senator, Kyrsten Sinema, keeps members of the church at least 100 metres from the funeral.

Tucson residents also plan to try to keep the nutters at bay.

Christin Gilmer has gathered more than 40 volunteers to wear 3m high angel wings and stand between the church members and the funeral.

A group of bikers says it will surround the Westboro wingnuts.

Indie director Kevin Smith's new film Red State was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church on Sunday.

Red State is said to be a scathing satire on Christian fundamentalists and was making its debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

However, Smith was ready to exploit the picket. He and an estimated 200 supporters launched a counter protest. Smith, an astute businessman as well as a creative force, utilized the Westboro picket to create even more buzz for his film's launch at Sundance.

Red State is being billed as a different kind of horror movie, a movie exploiting the horror of Christian fundamentalism and ultraconservative right wing American values. The plot centers around three teenage boys in search of sexual experience and their contact with a frightening clan of Christian extremists.

In fact the film features a gay-hating minister and a frightening band of homophobic Christian bigots remarkably similar to the Westboro Baptist Church.

Anonymous contend that the press release mentioned below was not actually from them:

Nutters of Westboro Baptist Church, known for protesting at funerals of fallen U.S. service men and women, might be facing a hacked website soon.

The obnoxious Kansas nutters have been threatened by the famed collective of unnamed Internet-hacking activists calling itself Anonymous, which vows to inflict irreversible damage to the hate group's website.

In a sharply worded open letter, Anonymous called the small group of Westboro Baptist Church members an assembly of graceless sociopaths and maniacal chauvinists and religious zealots, citing the way the group has condemned men and women who have died in the armed forces, as well as prayed for and celebrated the deaths of young children.

The Anonymous hackers continued with a warning: Cease and desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public websites. The group states that the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover.

Update: Don't Call Us. We'll Call You

22nd February 2011. See press release by Anonymous from anonnews.org

Dear Phred Phelps and WBC Phriends,

So we've been hearing a lot about some letter that we supposedly sent you this morning. Problem is, we're a bit groggy and don't remember sending it.

Our best guess is that you heard about us on that newfangled TV of yours and thought we might be some good money for your little church. You thought you could play with Anonymous. You observed our rising notoriety and thought you would exploit our paradigm for your own gain. And then, you thought you could lure some idiots into a honeypot for more IPs to sue.

This is not so foreign to us; as you may have heard, we trade in Lulz. You just do not have enough to offer right now. While Anonymous thanks you for your interest, and would certainly like to take a break and have some fun with you guys, we have more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.

But, we will keep this application on file, and will certainly contact you if any openings become available in future.

Next time, don't call us. We'll call you.

We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

Update: Jester claims hack

28th February 2011.  See article from theregister.co.uk

Patriot hacker The Jester has claimed credit for denial of service attacks against the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.

The self-proclaimed activist revealed in a twitter update that he had torn into the Church's website in protests against its pickets on the funerals of American servicemen with anti-gay signs.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that a church has the legal right to stage anti-gay protests at US military funerals to promote its claim that God is angry at America for its tolerance of homosexuality.

The nation's high court held that the protest messages and picketing at a private funeral were protected by the US Constitution's First Amendment.

The court's 8-1 ruling was a defeat for Albert Snyder, the father of a Marine killed in Iraq in 2006.

He had appealed to the Supreme Court after the family's funeral service at a Roman Catholic Church in Westminster, Maryland, drew unwanted protests by members of the Westboro Baptist Church. The protesters carried signs that stated, God Hates You, You Are Going To Hell, and Thank God for Dead Soldiers.

In the court's opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the ruling was narrow and said free-speech rights dictated the outcome. Westboro's funeral picketing is certainly hurtful and its contribution to public discourse may be negligible. But Westboro addressed matters of public import on public property in a peaceful manner in full compliance with the guidance of local officials.

Snyder sued in 2007. He said he had the right to bury his son in a private, dignified manner, free from unwanted disruption or harassment. A federal judge awarded Snyder $5 million in damages for invasion of privacy and inflicting emotional distress, but a U.S. appeals court overturned the award on free-speech grounds. The Supreme Court upheld that appeal court decision.

The miserable nutters of the Westboro Baptist Church have announced plans to picket Ryan Dunn's funeral. The Jackass prankster died in a car crash on Monday.

Citing the porn-level filth the deceased pervert hawked during his Jackass career (specifically, inserting a toy car up his rectum for entertainment ), Fred Phelps' band of haters will descend on any public memorial/funeral held for Dunn to protest.

Ryan Dunn Is In Hell! announces the group's press release, which slams his vulgar stunts supposedly enabled by raping priests, selfish faithless parents and lying fag/dyke/whore 'teachers' [who taught] him and his entire generation to sin like the devil himself.

Counter-demonstrators dressed up as zombies to protest against the nutters of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Eight of the clan spewed their usual nastiness and claimed soldiers died because God is angry with America over gay marriage and tolerance of gay lifestyles.

The Westboro nutter were outnumbered by counter-demonstrators who supported soldiers, and many of them dressed up as zombies after a Facebook campaign.