You may have seen this by now--a group calling themselves Christian are demonstrating at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. Their claim? That God is punishing the soldiers for fighting on behalf of the United States, which supposedly "tolerates homosexuality." Disgusting. And in the name of Christ! Read on.Phelps Angers Veterans Groups
by Paula SophiaStaff
Writerpaulasophia@gayly.comOKLAHOMA CITY - People in Oklahoma’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities are all too familiar with the antics of Rev. Fred Phelps and his cronies at the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Phelps has been implementing his “picketing ministry” at Gay Pride events for years.
Yeah, so what’s new?
It seems that Phelps and his crew have exhausted efforts that have been specifically aimed at the gay community, most notably their propensity to provoke confrontations that lead to lawsuits alleging assault. Very often defendants in these cases have settled out of court, and the fees collected by members of the Westboro Baptist Church go to the furtherance of their so called picketing ministry. Oklahoma’s gay community has learned to stand stoically in place as Phelps and his followers shout hatred at them.
So what’s a wayward minister to do when his bread and butter tactics no longer pay off? Well, he finds a new group to picket, and during this time of war what better group to target for these lucrative payoffs than veterans? A riled patriot can be a hellcat for sure.
In recent months members of the Westboro Baptist Church have begun picketing the funerals of fallen soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan regardless of their sexual orientation. They are using the same tactics at these funerals that they used at the funeral of Matthew Sheperd in 1998. They wave the same offensive signs and shout the familiar obscenities denouncing same sex relationships and gender variant identities, but they have added outright anti-American epithets presumably aimed specifically at provoking the ire of veterans.
On October 16th members of the Westboro Baptist Church visited Oklahoma City again. They lined up across the street from the First Southern Baptist Church of Del City near I-240 and Sooner Rd. The Phelps clan waved some new signs, God, America’s Terrorist, Thank God for 9-11, Fag Nation-Fag Troops, and God Hates America among many others. They also flew the flag of the United States upside down, a sign of distress, and they kicked a crumpled American flag around on the ground, wiping their feet on it. They pray for a high body count for American troops abroad, and they justify these actions by stating that the United States has incurred God’s wrath because our culture tolerates homosexuality.
Phelps and his congregation are not trying to call people to repent so that our nation can avoid a wrathful judgment. They believe it’s already too late, that the Judgment has arrived, and the mounting costs of the War on Terrorism are evidence that the end has begun. Their picket protests are their way of gloating about being right. Each funeral of a dead soldier is a cause for celebration, from their point of view.
However, this time on October 16th, various Oklahoma veterans groups and other patriots staged a counter protest. They effectively told Fred Phelps and his group that they didn’t want to hear their version of gospel preaching. The counter protest numbered in the hundreds, perhaps exceeding a thousand people. Add to that hundreds of bikers who rode in procession up and down Sooner Road rolling on their throttles! The thunderous roar of motorcycle engines upstaged Phelps and his followers. Quite possibly nobody heard a word they said.
The latest tactics of the Westboro Baptist Church have developed some unlikely alliances. For the first time, members of Oklahoma’s glbt community are standing side by side with groups who may not have been hostile to the interests of glbt Americans, but one could say that they have been definitely indifferent. Now however, everyone is offended.
On October 5th Oklahoma State Representative Paul Wesselhoft R-Moore announced that he will file a bill to ban protests in the vicinity of funerals. This bill is similar to the Senate Bill 1020 introduced by Oklahoma State Senator Mary Easley, D-Tulsa. Both measures are a response to the offensiveness of Fred Phelps’ crusade.
Wesselhoft said he attended the October 16th counterprotest. “I applaud the demonstrators who came to challenge bigotry and hatefulness,” he said.
Wesselhoft’s bill, entitled the Oklahoma Funeral Protection Act would make it unlawful for people to picket, protest, or demonstrate within 500 feet of any funeral, whether it is at a private home, funeral home, church, synagogue, temple, mosque, cemetery, or mortuary. The bill also would bar protests two hours prior to a funeral, during the funeral, and for two hours after the funeral.
Anyone convicted of disregarding the proposed law would be guilty of a misdemeanor and could face a fine of $1000 and up to 30 days confinement in jail. Wesselhoft said he is pushing for a mandatory 30 days in jail.
“These people see being arrested as a badge of honor,” Wesselhoft said. “They pay their fines and move on.”
He explained that a mandatory 30 days in jail will attach a real consequence to their actions and cause a great deal of inconvenience. “It’s about true deterrence. I don’t think these people will come across our border if you can put them in jail for 30 days.”
Wesselhoft described himself as a retired U.S. Army Chaplain and an Airborne Ranger. “I have conducted many military funerals, and this is all so personal.”
He asked interested people to call their State Representatives and State Senators to get the bill passed in February. He also hinted at the fact that there may be similar legislation proposed on the national level.
