Fred Phelps to bring Anti-Gay Rally to Sand Springs

[hippywife]

against a freaking high school!!

http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/1104/185096.html

For those of you not aware of who this freak is, this guy and his followers are the biggest hate-mongers out there these days. This is the same guy that runs a website called godhatesfags.com. He shows up at all the big peace and civil rights rallies with his bunch of freaks in tow with signs proclaiming that God hates fags.

This man and his followers are some kind of sick. He tried to have a memorial stone erected in Casper, WY that was dedicated to Matthew Shepherd's "entry into hell".

The principal, unable to stop this from happening, is hoping to use this as a lesson in constitutionality. I say we give them the full lesson.

If anyone is able to come to Tulsa area Monday morning, I encourage you to show these kids that there are people unafraid to stand up to these bullies. I beleive they intend to start their rally at 7am.

[Sapphocrat]

1. The only thing about this that rattles me...

...is the fact that Phelps doesn't seem quite so far from the repuke mainstream as he once did.

[hippywife]

2. As a Christian, personally

it rattles me every time this man's name comes up. The very idea that he purports to speak for God in his hatefilled rhetoric makes my blood boil!

[eleonora]

3. and now he has Bush to back him up

We're in deep shit, people

[bowens43]

4. Welcome to the new America.......

This is the future of America. Hatred and bigotry. Once bigotry is enshrined in the Constitution this will become norm, not the exception.
This is where the republican party is heading. This is what social conservatism is all about. Do not make the mistake of thinking that it will end with the suppression of homosexuality and abortion. These 'people' who put bush in for another four years believe that they are engaged in a war between good and evil. All those who believe as they do are good , every one else is evil. Watch for the signs, the theocracy is coming. They intend to make their version morality the law of the land..

[hippywife]

5. Only if we roll over and let it!

My first response to this was to ignore Fred Phelps and people like him. The more I thought about it two things occurred to me:

1.) As a Christian, I am angered that these people think they speak for me.

2.) These kids who are going to be subjected to this hate and vitriol need to know that there are people who are willing to stand up to it. This is to be a lesson in constitutionality, let it also be a lesson in learning to stand up against a bully. An issue many kids in school are intimately familiar with.

[bowens43]

6. I agree completely.

Our enemy is extremism. These people are in the minority right now. As Barney Fife would say 'We need to nip it in the bud!'

[CBGLuthier]

7. I am so glad I am in OKC

and I have to work. If I was ever within 5 minutes of that man, well best not to say what would happen but I would probably end up in Mcalester. :-)

[hippywife]

8. New Information

I received the information below and talked to a few folks. The GLBT community and other progressive groups are of the opinion that the best way to deal with this particular man is to totally ignore him. Also, the police and the school are planning on making sure the student in question, as well as the other students, are well protected.

Please read the information below. Given their tactics, it is probably best not to be present to justify their existence. I hope many people will choose to participate in these other plans instead.

Thanx!



The word is getting around that the arch conservative anti-gay minister Fred Phelps will be picketing gay-friendly churches in Sand Springs, OK and Broken Arrow, OK on Sunday, and will then take its vicious hatred to the children at Charles Page High School (Sand Springs) in a rally on Monday. Targeted churches are Cornerstone Church, Broadway Baptist, St. Patrick Catholic, St. Andrew Lutheran and Grace Fellowship.

Phelps' organization, God Hates Fags, thrives on getting the GLBT
community to react violently. They fund their organization on lawsuits
against people who shout obscenities and flip them off. Please
understand that, while we may dearly want to mount a simultaneous
counter-protest, this would play directly into the hatemongers' hands.

As an appropriate and immediate reaction, TOHR, TU Campus Ministries,
PFLAG and allies will host a Vigil in Response to Hate on Sunday evening at 6:00pm at the Tulsa GLBT Community Center, 5545 E. 41st Street (across the street from PetSmart). Rev. Nancy Eggen of TU Campus Ministries will coordinate the vigil, and we anticipate that media will be present. Also, we will discuss a possible additional action to be taken after the hate protests have concluded.

Please join us in this nonviolent and non-provocative action against
hatred of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community on Sunday evening. We in the GLBT community, the targeted churches, and the GLBT youth of Charles Page High School look forward to the supportive presence of all our friends.


BACKGROUND

Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church are notorious for their
vitriolic attacks on the gay community nationwide. They've been to Tulsa before, and are now returning in response to the recent Washington Post articles focusing on the experiences of Charles Page High School student. Here is an excerpt from the God Hates Fags Purpose page:


"The only lawful sexual connection is the marriage bed. All other sex
activity is whoremongery and adultery, which will damn the soul forever in Hell. Heb. 13:4. Decadent, depraved, degenerate and debauched America, having bought the lie that It's OK to be gay, has thereby changed the truth of God into a lie, and now worships and serves the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen! Rom. 1:25. But the Word of God abides. Better to be a eunuch if the will of God be so, and make sure of Heaven. Mat. 19:12. Better to be blind or lame, than to be cast into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Mk. 9:43-48. Abstain, you fools."


PLEASE JOIN US ON SUNDAY AT 6.

Tulsa Oklahomans for Human Rights

[hippywife]

9. The vigil tonight was

truly wonderful. The pastors of some of the area churches spoke or sent messages if they had services this evening. The place was packed and the program was really moving. What a great evening! I'm was so glad to be there.