“F A G” Protesters at Funerals

[CuriousT i m]

This Aussie was just watching the TV News and was abhorred what I saw. So motivated that I had to put this online to try to make some sense of this, if there is any.

At funerals of your Boys and Girls, that have been killed on duty in Iraq. Protesters are turning up and saying – This is the way of the lord, for the U.S. harbouring Fags !!

First in Lincoln Texas but these protests are spreading across the U.S.A.

For this fair minded, live and let live person, I find the connection these people are making, totally unbelievable !! I simply don’t understanding their motivation of hatred. Their presence at these funerals, attended by grieving relatives of the dead, is sick to my way of thinking.

Can someone “please” try to explain to me what these people are trying to achieve. Are they Just the Looney religious right or something much more sinister ?

I am so lucky to live in Australia where we don’t have these extremes.

I love the U.S. and its people but this, ohh I am simply lost for words.

[maxpower]

Well I don’t think to can derive to much from Fox news or what ever, their are always going to be some nuts doing stuff like this “normally religious ones” but that kind of out burst is not common in the US. To tell the truth if they did pick up steam and where doing stuff like that all over the US it would help the gay community. The back lash from "normal" people would be so grate that gay marriage and about ever other discrimination issue would be over with-in 5 years

[CuriousT i m]

JUST FOUND OUT SOME MORE - (This from another person)

I know what group you are talking about. It's really small in fact, I believe like 20-30 members. 10 or so are actually in the same family.

At first I thought they were religous nuts. They certainly use it as a means of arguing their case. But after awhile, I just figured they were sad, lonely people who craved attention from everywhere. There is no rhyme or reason to their protests and it seems like they just pick the events that would garner the most criticism. They cheered 9/11, they protest at funerals of soldiers, and are really sick people.

The worst part about it is that the heads of this so-called church all are lawyers. So if you look at them the wrong way or do anything to disrupt them, they'll sue you over and over. Some states are trying to pass laws now saying protests can't be within a certain number of feet of a funeral.

Personally for me, if someone was doing that outside a family member's funeral, there is no court in the world that would save them from the fury I would unleash.

[CuriousT i m]

AND MORE (From a 3rd person)

They are just a bunch of nuts from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS. They are led by "Rev." Fred Phelps. They have been involved in these kinds of ridiculous publicity stunts for ages. While I hate living near these morons home base, it's nice to be able to lay on the horn and give them the finger every time I see them. I'm proud to say I have been taunting and harassing them for over a decade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev._Fred_Phelps

[chadknowslaw]

The Fred Phelps crew first made a name for themselves when they protested Matthew Shephard's funeral [the young gay man beaten, pistol whipped, tied to a fence and left to die on a lonely road in Wyoming]

http://www.matthewshepard.org/

Their antics are utterly obscene. They not only protest funerals, but they protest at churches that don't "hate fags" enough for them--like Catholic churches. They protest at anything they can loosely connect to gay rights but what they are doing actually galvanizes SUPPORT of gay rights in many of the places they protest.
They are so extreme that they get people that otherwise would stay silent to realize the level of hate that is out there--an unintended consequence I am sure.

[CuriousT i m]

How Fucked !! is this -

http://www.godhatesfags.com
http://www.godhatesamerica.com

[maxpower]

The Fred Phelps crew first made a name for themselves when they protested Matthew Shephard's funeral [the young gay man beaten, pistol whipped, tied to a fence and left to die on a lonely road in Wyoming]

http://www.matthewshepard.org/

Their antics are utterly obscene. They not only protest funerals, but they protest at churches that don't "hate fags" enough for them--like Catholic churches. They protest at anything they can loosely connect to gay rights but what they are doing actually galvanizes SUPPORT of gay rights in many of the places they protest.
They are so extreme that they get people that otherwise would stay silent to realize the level of hate that is out there--an unintended consequence I am sure.

Ya that’s what I was saying too

[CuriousT i m]

I simply can't believe these people are for real !! :mental:

http://www.godhatesfags.com/photos/thisyear.html

[MiamiB]

These inbreed freaks of nature are proof that incest should not be practiced (but it is Kansas after all)...not really a surprise when you consider that the state doesn't even accept scientific facts!

They are nothing more than a hate group hiding behind religion.

Lee

[agenda9]

Some cities have even begun enacting legislation to prevent protests at funerals.

I hope I'm there to watch when these self righteous fanatics get whats coming to them and burn in hell.

[desslock]

Hey.... I know I hate to bring it up.... but they have a right to assemble and protest what they want. That guy's freedom of speech is as good as mine when I put pictures of naked people on my web pages, and talk about it. Or when I purposefully mangle my 2257 Compliance Statement wording on my front page.

...Even if you think there is a special place in Hell for individuals like Fred
Phelps. I hadn't thought about it, but I guess he's a good case to test your tolerance on the limits of free speech.

Honestly, my opinion is that he does it for the attention, pure and simple. Otherwise he'd be working some night shift at a 7-11 in rural Kansas.

Steve

[longboardjim]

somehow i just think "freedom of speech" was used in "bad taste" in this instance and although "legally" they may have had a right to protest i feel as if several lines of "morality/ethics/etc" were broken.

sincerely ~ ..."how can you preach peace waving a sword?"...

[desslock]

Oh, I know. It's perfectly horrible. But even "bad taste" is something depending on anyone's definition.

What is the difference between Fred Phelps protests, and environmentalist groups protesting outside the stockholder's meeting of Exxon? Or Cindy Sheehan in front of George Bush's house? You can think one is good, and one is bad..... or you can look at all of them and just exclaim geez, people, get a life! But then, some people are cude n' rude, while others are smooth and suave. And everyone has an opinion.

There are several countries in Europe (I know Austria as one offhand) where its against the law to publically deny the occurance of the Holocaust. I think that is a pretty good example of how free speech rights have more limits elsewhere, versus in the United States.

Looking at where governments decide to draw the line on free speech has become an interest of mine since my own business is closely meshed in the US's interpretation of these ideas.

Steve

[gaystoryman]

Oh, I know. It's perfectly horrible. But even "bad taste" is something depending on anyone's definition.

What is the difference between Fred Phelps protests, and environmentalist groups protesting outside the stockholder's meeting of Exxon? Or Cindy Sheehan in front of George Bush's house? You can think one is good, and one is bad..... or you can look at all of them and just exclaim geez, people, get a life! But then, some people are cude n' rude, while others are smooth and suave. And everyone has an opinion.

There are several countries in Europe (I know Austria as one offhand) where its against the law to publically deny the occurance of the Holocaust. I think that is a pretty good example of how free speech rights have more limits elsewhere, versus in the United States.

Looking at where governments decide to draw the line on free speech has become an interest of mine since my own business is closely meshed in the US's interpretation of these ideas.

Steve

Well is it okay to yell 'fire' in a crowded room/theatre?

Free Speech also has to be tempered with what other rights it abrogates, such as 'hate'. The law in Austriai that you speak of is in relation to denying that it existed, not to what extend it existed. There is a difference. To deny something existed makes it seem false, to debate how many died is simply arguing statistics. To deny it existed promotes hatred.. hence the law prohibiting public denial of the event taking place. Would be no different to deny the Crusades took place or to deny that 9/11 never happened. They happened, denying them is fostering hatred.

Phelps has the absolute right to make his claims, as sick as they are. What I find hard to accept is what about the rights of the others to bury their dead with honour and dignity? Don't their rights also have merit? The right to public protest exists, but you can't for example walk up the President with a picket sign out of need to protect his life... demonstrations and even union picket lines are restricted to be confined to certain areas... does that infringe on the rights of free speech? I don't think so, they get their right to holler, just not in the face of people they are opposing... is that wrong or a decent attempt at balancing the rights of both parties?

I think to limit Phelps to outside private property is not infringing on his rights of free speech one bit. It is something that should be done, least in my view.

[basschick]

good post, gaystoryman!