Free Republic

Fred Phelps Sr. led his small Topeka church for more than two decades in a bellicose crusade against gays and lesbians, saying they were worthy of death and openly declaring—often at military funerals—that the U.S. was doomed because of its tolerance of homosexuality. But in targeting grieving families of troops killed overseas, taunting people entering other churches and carrying signs with anti-gay slurs and vulgar language or symbols, Phelps and his Westboro Baptist congregation created public circuses that may have helped the gay-rights movement. Following Phelps’ death Wednesday at age 84, some gay-rights advocates suggested that he and his church...

The way anti-gunners have handled of the Connecticut shooting has been one of the most disturbing things ever. Within hours of the tragedy they turned it into what they hope is their opportunity to finally pass another gun control law. The tweets of Michael Moore, the press releases of Mayors Bloomberg, Menino, and public statements of Democrat Reps bear witness to this. But perverted attempt to make gains from the Connecticut shooting became even more pronounced when Westboro Baptist Church announced they will picket the funerals of those killed on Friday. Why? -- because doing so gives them the opportunity...

Richard Montgomery High School officials and Rockville police are preparing for a demonstration Saturday afternoon by Westboro Baptist Church in protest of the school's drama production of "The Laramie Project," a played surrounding the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student. Westboro announced on its website, www.godhatesfags.com, on Oct. 30 that members would protest at the Rockville school between 1:15 and 2 p.m. Saturday. Founded by Fred Phelps and based in Topeka, Kan., the church is known for picketing the funerals of American soldiers and other anti-homosexual protests. Attempts to reach the church for confirmation and comment on...

Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Snyder v. Phelps, a case about the nature and scope of basic rights -- those of free speech vs. those of privacy. But this case is fundamentally about wrongs and the law's imperfect ability to redress them. The facts of the case are well known. Matthew Snyder, a Marine lance corporal from Westminster, Md., was killed in the line of duty in Iraq in 2006. The Rev. Fred Phelps and members of his Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church traveled more than 1,000 miles to Maryland to picket his funeral and draw attention...

Westboro Baptist Church, the small Topeka, Kan., church that pickets funerals of American soldiers to spread its message that God is punishing the country for being tolerant of homosexuals, has vowed to hold a Quran burning if Gainesville's Dove World Outreach Center calls its off. "WBC burned the Koran once – and if you sissy brats of Doomed america bully Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center until they change their plans to burn that blasphemous tripe called the Koran, then WBC will burn it (again), to clearly show you some things," the church announced in a news release...

Poizner: Tax Dollars for Illegals’ Abortions Posted on June 3 2010 by Eric Hogue From Michael Rothfeld of the LA Times in Sacramento tonight. Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner has said his experience in Sacramento as insurance commissioner has “crystallized” his thinking as a conservative. A document obtained by The Times shows that Poizner, who in past campaigns described himself as a moderate, has apparently shifted far more than previously reported. It shows that he took generally liberal positions on matters unrelated to the world of insurance, from support of needle exchanges to a suggestion that he backed reparations to...

The Home Secretary has banned two extremist anti-gay preachers from entering Britain, a move that follows a decision to refuse entry to Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim MP. Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who belong to the US Westboro Baptist Church, were planning to come to the UK to protest outside a performance of a youth play called The Laramie Project, which recounts the death of gay university student Matthew Shepard who was killed in Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998. It was due to be performed at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire, tomorrow. The pair have been...

<p>A Maryland State Police trooper from Westminster who was killed in a helicopter crash in Prince George’s County early Sunday morning is being remembered by those who knew him as a great father and a nice person who took his job seriously.</p>

Members of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church are threatening to picket the funeral of Tim McLean, the young man decapitated on a Greyhound bus last week. The Kansas-based church - a small fundamentalist sect led by Fred Phelps - is reviled in the United States for protesting the funerals of hundreds of soldiers killed in the Iraq war. The sect gained notoriety in the 1990s by picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man beaten to death in Wyoming. Seven members of the church originally planned to picket theatre performances in Toronto and Red Deer, Alta., later this...

The inbreds in the ACLU buddy, hate cult have decided to picket outside Camp LeJeune in order to spread their message of hating homosexuals. Of course this is predictable of them now, yet still no less disgusting. They are protesting at the funeral of the recently murdered Marine. Yes, the pregnant one that the media has been talking about so much. What this murdered Marine's death has to do with gays, nobody knows, but somehow in this cult's attention seeking, twisted minds I'm sure they think it does somehow. What do these freaks think of her death? They think it...

Today at lunch here in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, I passed the sorry folks from Westboro Baptist Church protesting the funeral of a Pine Bluff boy that was killed in Iraq. I stopped by their protest and exhausted my supply of curse words and condemnations. It was thrilling to see other local folks from Pine Bluff also condemning their actions.