Reply #66: Or It Could Be That Some People Realize That Phelp's Brood Are Not Worth The Attention.

[Toasterlad]

Honestly, the people going around talking as if Phelps were the Nazis going to take over the country! For fuck's sake, this is a group of 30 odd assholes that are almost universally despised, even by the right-wing fuckwads they most closely resemble. They are not the reason that gay people are not equal citizens in this country. They are not even a symptom of society's hate. Their group exists for one reason only: to profit from the reactions that they cause. They are trying to provoke lawsuits from either violations of their first ammendment rights, or from physical attacks. This isn't a threat that needs to be confronted. Standing up to them is not confronting hate. It is providing detestable people with what they want.

People who find it necessary to counter-protest these assholes are doing it so they can congratulate themselves on standing up to bigots. If you really want to do something important, volunteer to help your local PFLAG chapter or donate some money to Lambda Legal. If you absolutely MUST do something about Phelps showing up in your town, than go to one of the websites set up to take pledges for how long WBC protests. You don't need to be there giving them attention in order to do that.

Giving Phelps and his brood the publicity they crave helps nothing. It only validates their existence.