Fred Phelps of godhatesfags.com is coming to Tucson, AZ

[NAO]

It seems they are going to let this hate filled nut-job speak at a local public high school. He is bringing along a band of haters from his Wichita Baptist Church.

This guy seems like a joke, of the sort as the "Billionaires for Bush", except that he is dead serious. He goes around the country preaching hate and violence against homosexuals and that god hates them and that they will burn in hell forever.

Phelps is about the most dangerous of the Radical Clerics in the U.S. He is more extreme than even Radical Clerics such as Robertson, Fallwell, and Dobson.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. Ask him for me

if he hates fags so much, why doesn't he take the pole out of his ass? If he responds that "God will not be mocked!," tell him you are mocking HIM, not God.

[seaj11]

2. Ask him for me,

"Do you hate seafood, too?"

Elle
http://www.nophicent.org

[ismnotwasm]

25. And about those cloven footed rabbits...

I ask myself, why would anybody even pay attention to this disgusting individual? Then I remember all those people who actually voted for *

[Turbineguy]

3. Check the ads

tomatoes may be on sale....

[rkc3]

4. I hope he isn't speaking while class is in session.

Someone should ask him about his God Hates America site as well. According to bush, God loves America.

[sui generis]

6. which highschool? a public highschool?

Just curious.

http://www.godhatesfigs.com
http://www.godhatesshrimp.com/

[ET Awful]

5. Contact the ACLU.

He should NOT be permitted to use school property for spewing his hate.

[beam me up scottie]

7. A PUBLIC high school???

Your tax dollars are paying for this? What exactly will he be talking about?
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE IN 2005 ???
Nevermind. I forgot what country I was living in for a moment.

[DU9598]

9. IDEA for you

Our local Gay Lesbian Resouces Center held a fundraiser. Get people to pledge support for the GLRC for every minute he does his little protest. That way the longer he spews his hate, the more money he raises for your group. Make sure you encourage him to stay longer to raise money for the group.

[beam me up scottie]

12. Unfortunately I live in a red state. I have been here 2 1/2 years.

I haven't met anyone who would openly support gays and lesbians. I have made more than a few enemies here, I assure you. I "fired" my last doctor because he said homosexuals shouldn't be allowed to raise kids. After I explained a few facts to him (like I should have to correct the idiot, he's supposed to have a medical degree) he asked me if I was gay and I told him no, I wasn't, but honestly, I wished I were.

I am from Vermont and I was so proud of my state when we legalized civil unions. After that decision we heard from the bigots all over the world but I cannot remember hearing anyone, not even those against civil unions, advocate such hatred and violence.

I support freedom of speech, even for the KKK, but NOT at public schools.

[Renew Deal]

8. He will speak to students in a public HS?

How is that possible?

[Zenlitened]

10. I'm kind of split on Fred Phelps.

On the one hand, he's such a vile disgusting freak that, very often, decent people will react to him by re-thinking their biases. He can actually have the reverse effect of what he's intended -- people look at him, and worry if they're harboring such evil themselves.

On the other hand, sometimes I feel I could easily shove him in front of an on-coming bus. It would give me great pleasure -- I admit it, a real feeling of satisfaction -- to remove something so vile from the world.

Since murder is not on my to-do list, I take solace in the former option, that he's a walking (if inadvertent) advertisement for the evil of bigotry!

[SmokingJacket]

14. On the other hand...

bigots might look at him and think, Sheesh, I might hate gays, but I'm not about to protest a funeral! I'm totally normal in comparison!

In other words, the extreme example of Phelps kinda normalizes everyone else. That's what I think is going on with all this Phelps publicity, and it bugs me to no end: he makes your average Bush-loving bigot look pretty darned warm and fuzzy! Bad publicity has never hurt this creep and his family before.

I dunno. I like the bus idea.

Too bad I'm a goddamn pacifist.

[Zenlitened]

17. Hmmmm... good point..

Then it's agreed: bus "accident" it is! :toast:

Seriously, I wish he would drop dead this very instant. Then I could stop trying to rationalize away the fact that he's still alive and spewing his filth.

[Misunderestimator]

21. Very good point....

His very extremism makes the other extremists seem moderate.

[Democrats_win]

11. Thinking of "Density of Souls" by Christopher Rice.

In this novel, a gay highschool student is taunted by homophobes. Although the student suffers, the homophobes are the ones who are really hurt. The student goes on to live a happy life. Likewise, Phelphs is hurt because he lives a life of hate while we live a life of love.

The portion of the poem from "Density of Souls":

Fear cannot touch me...

It can only taunt me,
it cannot take me,
just tell me
where to go...

I can either follow,
or stay in my bed...

I can hold on to the
things that I know...

The dead stay dead,
they cannot walk.
The shadows are
darkness.
And darkness
cannot talk.

[rene moon]

13. It's true

He is coming to protest my old high school. What a joke.

Here is more info for DUers in the Tucson area.

http://www.wingspan.org/content/evt_details.php?event_id=1050

[beam me up scottie]

16. Oh, that's different. I thought he was speaking IN the school.

It should be much easier to drown out this moron. I can't join you but let me know if I can wield my cyber-sword to help in any way. I am broke (contemplating living in a storage unit, actually) but I can email.

[Az]

15. So why are you telling me?

Oh.... teehee. You mean the state. I get that all the time. :crazy:

[MaryH]

18. It would be better if everyone just totally ignore him and his

bunch of loonies. They feed on attention.

[Az]

19. Not really

This is an odd time in history. There are many angry people that feel disenfranchised. They detest the constantly changing standards of social morality. They want to have their fears justified. People like Phelps are like magnets to them. Starved for attention from angry liberals they will turn their attention to recruiting more numbers. They will infest the system.

[MaryH]

20. Phelps has been around for years and years

Here in Missouri and Kansas the News will not cover anything he and his group does. It just makes his behavior worse than it already is - and its plenty bad now.

[AZCat]

22. Westboro Baptist, not Wichita

He's from Topeka, not Wichita.


The funny thing is that I used to live in Kansas, and he would come to the university all the time and preach on campus. Now I live in Tucson, and he's coming here.

[MaryH]

23. Sorry - I mispoke myself.

[AZCat]

26. S'ok.

Probably only matter to a Kansan, anyway.

Remember when he protested "The Treasure of the Tsars" exhibit in Topeka? What a freak.

[MaryH]

27. He is a dangerous freak!

[Canuckistanian]

24. Notice even the RWers don't even acknowledge him??

Some day the "media" will take notice of him and the RWers will have to deal with it.
There's no way they can call him a liberal.