Fred Phelps, Welcome To The Mainstream

The "Jerry Springer" face of religious fanaticism, the Fred Phelps "God Hates Fags" clan, was finally sued for protesting a soldier's funeral and a jury awarded the plaintiff $11 million for invasion of privacy and emotional distress. Good luck getting the cash, man. It's a shame the jury can't award the plaintiff poetic justice so he could bludgeon the defendants to death with a ball pen hammer, like gay playwright Joe Orton's lover did to him.

They've been protesting funerals of gays and AIDS victims for years but have gotten far more publicity protesting soldiers' funerals. Louis Theroux's BBC documentary on them, The Most Hated Family In America, details the unyielding hostility and arrogance of this gaggle of screaming white trash, and after watching only a few minutes you could spontaneously combust with rage. Have a fire extinguisher handy.

No doubt about it, the Phelpses are nasty customers, the last stage of fanaticism before suicide bombing. Their poor children follow in their footsteps like trained seals, and if you think kids are best served in a heterosexual, religious home, watch these characters in action. Shirley Phelps-Roper, Fred's daughter, appears almost deformed by hatred and resentment, with witchlike "Bride of Frankenstein" hair and the raging expression of a vulture about to pounce on a dead cow. She would benefit from an Oprah makeover, but wouldn't go anywhere near the stylist. The documentary includes a clip of Sean Hannity calling Shirley "A sick, soulless, twisted human being," and a "religious nut." Too little too late, Sean.

Congress, incensed at the family's outrageous disrespect for troops, even passed a law to keep them a safe distance from funerals, the "Respect For America's Fallen Heroes Act." But Congress didn't say one word when they were protesting only funerals of gays. Aside from a bit of perfunctory TV coverage, the only Americans likely to be familiar with them were gays themselves and anyone who watched The Laramie Project.

Conservatives have been quick to harrumph their condemnation of these monsters, smug in their jaded expertise and moral superiority, as if to say, "we're the good conservatives, and these are the bad ones." But the Phelpses, except for their tacky language, oddball tactics and Wal-Mart wardrobe, are no different from any other antigay media whore. Everything the Phelpses say was said, in more highfalutin language, by mainstream right wing speakers at the Values Voters Conference, And how is holding a sign using the word "fags" any different from Ann Coulter or any other insult comic saying it?

How is Matt Barber of Concerned Women For America decrying "homosexual acts, such as male-on-male anal penetration which exposes gay men to extremely high risk of deadly and infectious disease" any different from Shirley's screaming of "Fags take it up the tail bone?" Barber, so obsessed with gays you would think he secretly wears a bejeweled teddy, has his 1000th column about the "sin of homosexuality" currently on Townhall.com, but Hannity never describes him, or any of the other antigay crusaders he regularly hosts, a "religious nut."

Radio's Michael Savage, in a gay bashing class by himself, has repeatedly said many of the same things as the Phelps's, such as that gay couples' raising children amounts to "child abuse" and "makes me want to puke." Maniacal "Christian" columnist Kevin McCullough never misses a gay bashing opportunity, and called Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace a "real man" whose comments that homosexuality is immoral "riled the feathers of girly men and manly women." That sounds a lot like "fags" and "dykes" to me.

The Phelps's routinely cite the same Biblical justification for their views as McCullough and his ilk. Without benefit of hair and makeup people, they're easy to hate, but are no different from the impeccably coifed and telegenic antigay oppressors who actually have power. The media sanctimoniously brings them on shows like "20/20" where John Stossel interviews them and
gives the Ann Coulter treatment, expressing mock horror while simultaneously helping to spread their message, But the next time they protest a gay's funeral, don't expect much coverage.

Father Jean-Baptiste Edart, a respected Biblical scholar with the John Paul II Institute in Rome, recently stated that there is no doubt whatsoever that God condemns homosexual acts. He might as well be standing in Vatican City holding up a sign saying "Il Dio Odia I Fags."

Comments

[rextrek]

Maybe ,sometimes Gays and Lesbians "come off" as being crazy Leftist...­but I totally understand why...IF any grp in constantly being Demonized from every facet of Religious BS...your first instinct is LASH OUT! Im sick of it, to be honest...u­nder the GOP rule..Amer­ica seems to have gotten more HATEFUL then I ever remember in my 47yrs....L­iberty & Justice for All make for pretty words on the American Marque' ..but the theatres empty!

[chendri887]

The Phelps literalist reading of the Bible is consistent with the way the ancient world viewed social and political issues. There was only "in group" and "out group," "shame" and "honor." The ancient Romans maintained their patron system with literal violence of the most brutal kind; the ancient citizens of Judea maintained their patron system with spiritual (and ocassionally physical) violence of the most terrifying kind. For better or worse, the Phelps give us a glimpse of living history

[The Collinbrandt]

I am just sad about hating people because you do not agree with them or, don't like their race or the way they wear their hair. Homosexuals are no different than any other people,just as blacks, hispanics and any other ruler made up group. The rulers want to divide and conquer. Together we are strong. We are only weak when the rulers can keep us at each others throats. Good luck and, we must all work together for the common good of mankind and against the good of "the man".

[PatA]

I've been done with John Stossel for a very long time, but I did want to see how he interviewed the Phelps family. As usual, he disgusted me and I turned the television off.

As long as all of the Ann Coulters and the Bill O'Reilly's are on the air, we're sunk.

[protagonia]

Virtually ALL the guys who hate gays are themselves, in the closet.

[rhdsma]

It's sad how some in our society are treated by those who claim to be religious. It's sad how some indulge in making tons of money by creating an environment where some are cast aside as "the other". That is not a grievous sin? Might it be that the way we treat gays is THE test from God that will determine our fates?

[tandrmcdonald]

If anyone wants a definition of blasphemy look now further than the Phelps clan. They claim to speak for and know the mind of God. This is the ultimate blasphemy.

[desertdweller]

We used to have a State Senator, here in SoCal whose name was Pete Knight. He was rabidly anti-gay. Turns out that his brother, who was gay, died of complications from AIDS. His son, David, was gay. Pete was one mean son-of-a-bitch when it came to anything gay. Sadly enough, a local high school was re-named in his honor.

[chinohillster]

Mr. David - What can be said? Probably, nothing, at best, if I understand the pain, hurt and anger in your column, and the desire of the religious community to at least be honest and "come clean" by admitting that James Dobson, Gary Bauer, et. al do believe the same way as Fred Phelps.

I'm at a loss - I'm not LGBT, and I do have a problem, theologically, with homosexuality, as a rejection of that which is Other. Yet, I cannot countenance hate speech against the LGBT community - however, you could legitmately argue that I just DID commit such speech by saying that I disagree with LGBT sexuality because I believe God created humankind, ha'adam, as male and female.

[mommadona]

Anyone want to arrest Phelps for wearing an American Flag?

That IS against the law, ya know.
Sure want to follow that law.
You know....th­at law of the land....

God's watching
from a distance
and boy, she is NOT a happy camper.

[SouthJerseySteve]

Bravo! You hit the nail on the neocon head. It appears that these right (and left) wing nuts are accepted members of society, UNTIL they protest a soldier's funeral, or bomb an abortion clinic, then we take notice.

[Desiderata]

My father often told me that the hatred expressed by one to another is rooting in the hater's hatred for the same thing deep within himself.