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teejayh
Feb 12, 2003
A real bastard
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/us/westboro-church-founder-dead/

quote:

Fred Phelps -- the founding pastor of a Kansas church known for its virulently anti-gay protests at public events, including military funerals -- has died, the church said Thursday.
The 84-year-old died of natural causes at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to church spokesman Steve Drain.
Phelps founded Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, in 1955 and molded it in his fire-and-brimstone image. Many members of the small congregation are related to Phelps through blood or marriage.
In a statement Thursday, the church chided the "world-wide media" for "gleefully anticipating the death."

"God forbid, if every little soul at the Westboro Baptist Church were to die at this instant, or to turn from serving the true and living God, it would not change one thing about the judgments of God that await this deeply corrupted nation and world."
According to Westboro, the church has picketed more than 53,000 events, ranging from Lady Gaga concerts to funerals for slain U.S. soldiers. Typically, a dozen or so church members -- including small children -- will brandish signs that say "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

Phelps was often called "the most hated man in America," a label he seemed to relish.
"If I had nobody mad at me," he told the Wichita Eagle in 2006, "what right would I have to claim that I was preaching the Gospel?"
Under Phelps' leadership, Westboro members have preached that every calamity, from natural disasters to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, is God's punishment for the country's acceptance of homosexuality. Phelps had advocated for gays and lesbians to be put to death.

"Fred Phelps will not be missed by the LGBT community, people with HIV/AIDS and the millions of decent people across the world who found what he and his followers do deeply hurtful and offensive," the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said in a statement.
Phelps began his anti-gay protests in Wichita in 1991 after complaining that the city refused to stop gay activities in a public park. He rose to national notoriety in 1998, when Westboro members picketed at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming man who was tortured and murdered because he was gay. Phelps and his church carried signs that said Shepard was rotting in hell.
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Westboro Baptist Church "arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America."
In 2011, the Supreme Court upheld Westboro's right to picket military funerals on free speech grounds. Congress and several states, though, have passed laws aimed at keeping church members at a distance from funerals.
In 2013, more than 367,000 petitioners called on the White House to legally recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group. The White House called Westboro's protests "reprehensible" but said that "as a matter of practice, the federal government doesn't maintain a list of hate groups."

Anti-gay preacher once fought for civil rights
Born in Meridian, Mississippi, on November 29, 1929, Phelps had his sights set on West Point before he attended a Methodist revival. He said the sermon inspired him to enter the ministry.
"I felt the call, as they say, and it was powerful," Phelps told the Topeka Capital-Journal in 1994. "The God of glory appeared." Later, Phelps was ordained by a Southern Baptist church in Utah.
He bounced around several Christian colleges as his preaching and his theology took a hard right turn.

A Time magazine article from 1951 describes Phelps as a "craggy-faced engineering student" who harangued fellow students about the dangers of promiscuity and profanity.
Tim Miller, a professor of religious history at the University of Kansas who has studied Westboro Baptist Church, said Phelps liked to consider himself a "primitive Baptist preacher who held to the old ways."
Despite its "Baptist" name, Westboro is not affiliated with any larger church denomination. Most Christians criticize the congregation's harsh anti-gay rhetoric and penchant for pursuing the limelight at inappropriate moments.
Phelps married his wife, Marge, who survives him, in 1952. The couple moved to Topeka on May 4, 1954, the day the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated public schools.
Phelps interpreted that as a sign and soon began a law career that centered on civil rights, winning awards for his work and praise from local leaders.

"Most blacks -- that's who they went to," the Rev. Ben Scott, president of the NAACP's Topeka branch, told CNN in 2010. "I don't know if he was cheaper or if he had that stick-to-it-ness, but Fred didn't lose many back then."
Phelps was disbarred from practicing law in state courts, however, after being accused of badgering a witness and making false claims in court affidavits. The Kansas Supreme Court said that Phelps "has little regard for the ethics of his profession."
Phelps surrendered his license to practice law in federal courts in 1989, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal, after nine U.S. District Court judges filed disciplinary complaints against him.
Most of the members of Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church are members of his large family. Phelps has 13 children; 11 are attorneys. One son, Nathan, is estranged from his father and from organized religion. He is an atheist.
Nathan Phelps posted a Facebook message March 15 saying that his father had been excommunicated from the church. Later, though, Nathan Phelps said it was "unclear" whether his father had been expelled from Westboro.

A church statement issued on March 16 said that "membership issues are private" and that eight unnamed elders lead the congregation.
On Thursday, the church added, "Listen carefully; there are no power struggles in the Westboro Baptist Church, and there is no human intercessor -- we serve no man, and no hierarchy, only the Lord Jesus Christ."
For years, Phelps joked about the possibility that his own funeral would draw protests. During a sermon in 2006, he said a CNN reporter once asked how he would feel if that occurred.
"I'd love it. I'd invite them," Phelps told the reporter, according to the Wichita Eagle. "I said: 'I'll put in my will to pay your way. But not first class.' "
But Shirley Phelps-Roper, Phelps' daughter, said Westboro will not hold a funeral for its patriarch.
"We do not worship the dead," Phelps-Roper told CNN.

Hopefully the family church will fall apart now.

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boner confessor
Apr 25, 2013

by R. Guyovich
So is this the general celebrate Phelps' death in D&D thread or what?

Zohar
Jul 14, 2013

Good kitty
Guy whose occupation was making people mad made people mad

Postorder Trollet89
Jan 12, 2008
Sweden doesn't do religion. But if they did, it would probably be the best religion in the world.
I guess god likes Sweden a tad bit more than he expected. Hehe, Good riddance.

What baffles me about a man like that is how the hell can you go from being a civil rights lawyer to being a guy who brings "god hates fags" signs to soldier funerals.

A Winner is Jew
Feb 14, 2008

by exmarx

Postorder Trollet89 posted:

I guess god likes Sweden a tad bit more than he expected. Hehe, Good riddance.

What baffles me about a man like that is how the hell can you go from being a civil rights lawyer to being a guy who brings "god hates fags" signs to soldier funerals.

Supposedly he was racist as hell, but civil rights cases back when he started practicing law were actually fairly lucrative to take on, and the man wanted to get paid.

lowly abject turd
Mar 23, 2009
I guess god needed another angel

Helsing
Aug 23, 2003

DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU :love::love::love: JOE BIDEN
In addition to the fact that civil rights cases had the potential to bring in money (especially since most lawyers in his area didn't want to take them on) I think that Phelp's may have transitioned gradually from being a lovely person to becoming the outright monster we all are familiar with. Based on descriptions of the Phelp's household that were given by estranged family members Fred took a lot of amphetamines to get through law school, and then he used barbiturates so that he could sleep. You can imagine how that kind of heavy drug abuse combined with stress and aging could lead to you becoming progressively more unhinged. He was also old enough to witness the culture wars in real time and you can imagine how traumatic an intense bigot like him to see how social mores and political attitudes changed between the 1960s and the 1990s, which is the time when he went totally bat poo poo.

boner confessor
Apr 25, 2013

by R. Guyovich

A Winner is Jew posted:

Supposedly he was racist as hell, but civil rights cases back when he started practicing law were actually fairly lucrative to take on, and the man wanted to get paid.

According to his estranged son, Nate, who has been the sort of anti-Phelps. There's really no way to tell either way - he could be an opportunistic racist who could keep his mouth shut, or he could be a complex person with no racial bigotry aside his massive sexual bigotry. If he was really motivated by money there are more lucrative law specializations he could have pursued than civil rights cases. If he was racist, it would probably crop up more in his preaching since it's evident he clearly didn't care what the community thought of him.

My point is nobody can really extrapolate such a thing since he was such a lovely person anyway.

boner confessor fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Mar 21, 2014

skaboomizzy
Nov 12, 2003

There is nothing I want to be. There is nothing I want to do.
I don't even have an image of what I want to be. I have nothing. All that exists is zero.
If God really had hated Fred Phelps, He would have kept Phelps alive long enough to see SCOTUS strike down all the gay marriage bans.

Judakel
Jul 29, 2004
Probation
Can't post for 9 years!
Has there ever been a more irrelevant public figure who has garnered this much attention?

Helsing
Aug 23, 2003

DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU :love::love::love: JOE BIDEN
I don't think Phelps was irrelevant to the people who had their loved one's funerals picketed. And while I agree that his story might not have been of national importance he was a pretty fascinating guy and I think its understandable why people would be curious about him.

Nckdictator
Sep 8, 2006
Just..someone
Crossposting from GBS

http://thegaychristian.com/fred-phelps-lets-picket-funeral-love/

quote:

Fred Phelps, organizer and leader of the hate-filled Westboro Baptist Church, is reported on his death bed at the moment. It is news that is quickly spreading throughout social media, with flagrant tweets and Facebook statuses that are somewhat amusing, yet slightly disheartening.

Let me begin by saying that I am, obviously, not a fan of Fred Phelps nor the WBC. I believe they are vile, bitter, and downright dangerously cultish. They have nothing to do with Jesus Christ and the Gospel of the Kingdom.

However, it is moments like this that I have to re-evaluate where I stand, theologically. You see, I believe Christ has grace for people like Fred Phelps as much as he has grace for me. Even though I’m not quite sure I believe in a literal hell of eternal burning, I do believe there is a hell that we put ourselves into, even after death, until we can break free of certain chains and mentalities (racism, sexism, homophobia) that keep us in injustice – and I hope that Phelps does not stay there long. I wish hell upon no one, because I want all souls to encounter the true love that God has to offer.

godhatesfagsAs I read some of the tweets, I realize that we are not going to get anywhere as a society until we begin to truly return hate with love. As Martin Luther King, Jr. so famously put it: “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” There are many people calling for picketing of Phelps funeral, as it is Phelps himself that became famous when he picketed the funeral of Matthew Sheppard in 1998, and has been picketing funerals ever since. But how would this help things at all? It would only be a small, self-serving act of vengeance that would only continue to raise the hate level of those that are still in attendance at WBC.

One fact I found quite interesting is that Nate Phelps, Fred’s son that left the church many years ago and is now an LGBT advocate, said that Fred was “excommunicated in August of 2013.” Why was Fred excommunicated? At this point we can only speculate, as the WBC has not released this information at all. One can only hope that Fred woke up one morning and said, “Wait a second…I was wrong.” While this is quite a stretch of the imagination, it is not entirely impossible. Maybe he was actually reading Scripture one day, and realized he was on the wrong side. I like to think that he was flipping through John and ran across the verse in Chapter 13 that says, “Your love for one another will prove that you are my disciples.” Then, as he read it, he thought, “Oh, crap!”

But nonetheless, the fact is, Fred was kicked out for some unknown reason, and is now lying on his deathbed, with no one around him. He is dying alone, facing the consequences of decades of hate. I only pray that as he embarks on eternity, he is able to let go of the hate and bigotry that has kept him tied down for so long. I pray that he is able to let go, not only of the hate and bigotry, but of the things that ultimately led him there in the first place. Why did he hate homosexuals so much? Only Fred probably knows that. I hope he is able to let go of that, too.

My final prayer is that people do show up to his funeral as a show of pageantry. I hope they show up with large, decorated signs and billboards. I hope they line the streets leading to the funeral home, and I hope that they make sure they are seen. Finally, I hope every one of those billboards and signs read, “We forgive you.”

Maybe that little sign of love will do something to the remaining members of WBC, and show them that a life filled with hate is really no life at all, but that a life filled with love is the only way to live. I strongly believe that true Christianity – and what I mean by that is simply people following Christ in doing exactly what Christ wanted us to do – is simply having love for everyone, even your enemies, and fighting for justice throughout the world (1 John 3:23, Micah 6:8, John 13:35).

So, Fred, may you be released from the bondage of hate and bigotry, and may God prepare your heart and soul for eternity. Maybe one day in the ever after, I can look you in the eyes and say this to you face-to-face: I forgive you. May you also be able to forgive yourself.

Amen.

UPDATE: As of 11 AM CST on 3/20/2014, Phelps has been confirmed as deceased. May he now know that God truly is love, and may God have mercy.

Shbobdb
Dec 16, 2010

by Reene

Judakel posted:

Has there ever been a more irrelevant public figure who has garnered this much attention?

The thing is that there is something there for everyone to hate. Soldiers are held as sacred to the right and gay rights are a huge issue on the left. And you'll find not many people have no strong opinions on both of those issues. He did a really good job trolling. Lucrative too, since they would sue everybody who took their bait.

Judakel
Jul 29, 2004
Probation
Can't post for 9 years!

Helsing posted:

I don't think Phelps was irrelevant to the people who had their loved one's funerals picketed. And while I agree that his story might not have been of national importance he was a pretty fascinating guy and I think its understandable why people would be curious about him.

Yet still largely irrelevant to anyone outside that small circle. His lack of a coherent message put him on the level of a pop culture oddity.

Shbobdb posted:

The thing is that there is something there for everyone to hate. Soldiers are held as sacred to the right and gay rights are a huge issue on the left. And you'll find not many people have no strong opinions on both of those issues. He did a really good job trolling. Lucrative too, since they would sue everybody who took their bait.

He did an excellent job grabbing for that money. All of his protests were ultimately lawsuit bait.

Stanos
Sep 22, 2009

The best 57 in hockey.
A good racket really, you bait people into taking a swing at you and then you sue the poo poo out of them. The speech is protected for the most part, assault isn't.

Helsing
Aug 23, 2003

DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU :love::love::love: JOE BIDEN

Judakel posted:

Yet still largely irrelevant to anyone outside that small circle. His lack of a coherent message put him on the level of a pop culture oddity.


People love talking about pop culture oddities. What exactly is your point?

Judakel
Jul 29, 2004
Probation
Can't post for 9 years!

Helsing posted:

People love talking about pop culture oddities. What exactly is your point?

Fred Phelps shouldn't be given a modicum of serious consideration in our nation's social discourse. He was so transparently motivated by money that it is difficult to argue that Phelps was even representative of anti-gay sentiment in the US during his lifetime. So outlandish was his presence in the media that one cannot even discern what his overall purpose was, beyond baiting people into civil lawsuits. He attacked anything that moved, whatever was a hot topic.

I don't for one second believe Phelps ever gave a drat about any of the things he claimed to stand against. He was a huckster whose group was largely a means for him to sue people and make a few bucks.

Judakel fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Mar 21, 2014

woke wedding drone
Jun 1, 2003

by exmarx
Fun Shoe
I'm glad he's dead, I wish he had died earlier.

I'd also be glad if William Melchert-Dinkel died. I support both Phelps' and Melcher-Dinkel's right to free speech, and simultaneously welcome their deaths (by natural causes only, of course).

Majorian
Jul 1, 2009

Inverted Offensive Battle: Acupuncture Attacks Convert To 3D Penetration Tactics Taking Advantage of Deep Battle Opportunities

This is what a real Christian believes. I love it. What better way to erase Phelps' awful legacy?

Shbobdb
Dec 16, 2010

by Reene
If I'm going to wish for anybody's death, I'd start with a few people on the Supreme Court. Worse baddies out there, sure, but if those people were removed the country would be substantially better off.

Which makes me wonder why there haven't been any assassinations of high level judges in America. Their security seems to be much less than other politicians and the "activist judges" rhetoric seems fertile ground for some unhinged lunatic to latch onto.

Postorder Trollet89
Jan 12, 2008
Sweden doesn't do religion. But if they did, it would probably be the best religion in the world.

SedanChair posted:

I'm glad he's dead, I wish he had died earlier.

I'd also be glad if William Melchert-Dinkel died. I support both Phelps' and Melcher-Dinkel's right to free speech, and simultaneously welcome their deaths (by natural causes only, of course).

Gary Aldridge natural causes?

enbot
Jun 7, 2013

Helsing posted:

I don't think Phelps was irrelevant to the people who had their loved one's funerals picketed. And while I agree that his story might not have been of national importance he was a pretty fascinating guy and I think its understandable why people would be curious about him.

Who would be irrelevant by this definition? Essentially everyone has impacted someones life in some way.

Majorian posted:

This is what a real Christian believes. I love it. What better way to erase Phelps' awful legacy?

Except that assumes the guy was actually doing it for any reason but the love of money. "Fighting hate with Love" isn't going to do poo poo, sorry, except be a meaningless cliche that falls apart in the real world in seconds.

Business Gorillas
Mar 11, 2009

:harambe:



Shbobdb posted:

If I'm going to wish for anybody's death, I'd start with a few people on the Supreme Court. Worse baddies out there, sure, but if those people were removed the country would be substantially better off.

Which makes me wonder why there haven't been any assassinations of high level judges in America. Their security seems to be much less than other politicians and the "activist judges" rhetoric seems fertile ground for some unhinged lunatic to latch onto.

Maybe their security isn't as lax as you think it is? Just because we don't hear about botched assassination attempts or people locked up for death threats against judges doesn't mean that they aren't happening.

enbot
Jun 7, 2013

Popular Thug Drink posted:

So is this the general celebrate Phelps' death in D&D thread or what?

We could debate the fact it makes no sense whatsoever that picketing a private individuals funeral is protected speech. I really have never heard an argument about it (that his sort of hate speech shouldn't be subject to the sensible laws most of europe has on it) that wasn't some form of a slippery slope argument. There's a large difference between political speech and what is essentially harassing non-public individuals.

This sort of law wouldn't even have to ban people from picketing his funeral, as he made himself into a public figure.

Stanos
Sep 22, 2009

The best 57 in hockey.
There's a pretty good argument by SCOTUS. :ssh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snyder_v._Phelps

WBC knows how to play the 'I'm not touching you' game well. They were far enough from the funeral to avoid that problem and they didn't directly picket the Snyder funeral to cause problems.

Now if you want to argue MORALLY that they shouldn't do it, that's a whole other can of worms. What they did was deplorable but the first amendment isn't just there to defend pretty speech. Ask the ACLU.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech-lgbt-rights/why-fred-phelpss-free-speech-rights-should-matter-us-all

Stanos fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Mar 21, 2014

esquilax
Jan 3, 2003

enbot posted:

We could debate the fact it makes no sense whatsoever that picketing a private individuals funeral is protected speech. I really have never heard an argument about it (that his sort of hate speech shouldn't be subject to the sensible laws most of europe has on it) that wasn't some form of a slippery slope argument. There's a large difference between political speech and what is essentially harassing non-public individuals.

This sort of law wouldn't even have to ban people from picketing his funeral, as he made himself into a public figure.

What they did/do has much more in common with political speech than with fighting words or harassment. In the protest that spawned their SCOTUS case for example, their protest was held over 1000 feet away from the church and the plaintiff wasn't even aware of the content of the protest until he saw it on the news later.

Why do you think it shouldn't be protected? Bad speech is okay, but this is really bad speech so it's not?

Majorian
Jul 1, 2009

Inverted Offensive Battle: Acupuncture Attacks Convert To 3D Penetration Tactics Taking Advantage of Deep Battle Opportunities

enbot posted:

Except that assumes the guy was actually doing it for any reason but the love of money. "Fighting hate with Love" isn't going to do poo poo, sorry, except be a meaningless cliche that falls apart in the real world in seconds.

I don't buy that he was doing it for the money. If that was what he cared about, there were way more lucrative ways he could have gone about what he did. I think he truly believed in what he said.

As for "fighting hate with love" not doing poo poo, I'm not sure why you're saying that. Why wouldn't it be effective in this sense? Why wouldn't it show to the rest of the world that the LGBT community's values are much more in line with Christ's than the WBC?

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

Judakel posted:

Fred Phelps shouldn't be given a modicum of serious consideration in our nation's social discourse. He was so transparently motivated by money that it is difficult to argue that Phelps was even representative of anti-gay sentiment in the US during his lifetime. So outlandish was his presence in the media that one cannot even discern what his overall purpose was, beyond baiting people into civil lawsuits. He attacked anything that moved, whatever was a hot topic.

I don't for one second believe Phelps ever gave a drat about any of the things he claimed to stand against. He was a huckster whose group was largely a means for him to sue people and make a few bucks.

The problem, however, is that even though the Westboro Baptist Church was a tiny handful of people and Fred Phelps very possibly was just in it for money that there were a poo poo load of people who look at what they were up to and hear their message and go "yup, those are good people." While most people agree that the Westboro Baptist Church was a bunch of shitheads that were doing something wrong there were others that actually applauded them as crusaders defending the faith at all costs.

On one hand people like Westboro being allowed to exist and say the things they did is a good measure of how much free speech actually exists but on the other hand they looked at where the lines were drawn and took a flying leap beyond them as far as they possibly could. These were awful people that did awful things.

Postorder Trollet89
Jan 12, 2008
Sweden doesn't do religion. But if they did, it would probably be the best religion in the world.

enbot posted:




Except that assumes the guy was actually doing it for any reason but the love of money. "Fighting hate with Love" isn't going to do poo poo, sorry, except be a meaningless cliche that falls apart in the real world in seconds.

You fight hate with liveable working wages and a proper, secular education. It's no wonder countries that severely lack one or both tend to have more hate and violence.

Business Gorillas
Mar 11, 2009

:harambe:



Majorian posted:

Why wouldn't it be effective in this sense? Why wouldn't it show to the rest of the world that the LGBT community's values are much more in line with Christ's than the WBC?

Since when do people in America care about what Jesus actually preached? I'm pretty sure that there's been a bunch of threads on this subject already.

Walter
Jul 3, 2003

We think they're great. In a grand, mystical, neopolitical sense, these guys have a real message in their music. They don't, however, have neat names like me and Bono.

Shbobdb posted:

If I'm going to wish for anybody's death, I'd start with a few people on the Supreme Court. Worse baddies out there, sure, but if those people were removed the country would be substantially better off.

Which makes me wonder why there haven't been any assassinations of high level judges in America. Their security seems to be much less than other politicians and the "activist judges" rhetoric seems fertile ground for some unhinged lunatic to latch onto.

Some nice men from the government will be seeing you soon.

Main Paineframe
Oct 27, 2010

enbot posted:

Who would be irrelevant by this definition? Essentially everyone has impacted someones life in some way.

It's almost as if no human life can truly be called irrelevant. Except for foreigners, because everyone knows America is God's favorite country.

Darkman Fanpage
Jul 4, 2012

This is the dumbest idea in the world.

Majorian posted:

This is what a real Christian believes. I love it. What better way to erase Phelps' awful legacy?

By just ignoring it all together?

Cerebral Bore
Apr 21, 2010


Fun Shoe

Majorian posted:

As for "fighting hate with love" not doing poo poo, I'm not sure why you're saying that. Why wouldn't it be effective in this sense? Why wouldn't it show to the rest of the world that the LGBT community's values are much more in line with Christ's than the WBC?

I'd assume that the WBC are so thoroughly reviled that you really don't need to try and show yourself to be better than them.

Shbobdb
Dec 16, 2010

by Reene

Walter posted:

Some nice men from the government will be seeing you soon.

I'm very much not calling for any violence. I'm just surprised with the anti-judge rhetoric that there hasn't been any violence. I mean, look at this. It's really crazy. A good thing, sure, but still surprising given the current political climate.

meat sweats
May 19, 2011

Majorian posted:

This is what a real Christian believes.

This sort of sidestepping "well in MY Bible Jesus was a Democrat" stuff that basically ignores the pressing issue of Christian homophobia by redefining it as not existing is a juvenile, unsound approach.

If "real Christians" is to be defined as people who go to church weekly or people who are politically active in a religious group (or basically as anything more restrictive than "people who define themselves as Christians with no further requirements"), then, obviously, an overwhelming majority of them oppose gay marriage and most other gay rights, and they are the problem the gay rights movement is fighting against. This idea that you will change their minds by telling them you know their religion better than them is disingenuous.

woke wedding drone
Jun 1, 2003

by exmarx
Fun Shoe

Majorian posted:

As for "fighting hate with love" not doing poo poo, I'm not sure why you're saying that. Why wouldn't it be effective in this sense? Why wouldn't it show to the rest of the world that the LGBT community's values are much more in line with Christ's than the WBC?

It's fine, but it isn't necessary. They don't need to be in line with the values of Christ. LGBT people are just people, the only thing that makes them different from anybody else is that they are LGBT. They don't need to be exemplary or above anger or hatred to assert their rights, any more than black people needed to behave like saints in order to assert theirs. It's OK for people to have a range of opinions, and I think hatred towards people who espouse Phelps' view is also fine and serves a purpose.

WhiskeyJuvenile
Feb 15, 2002

by Nyc_Tattoo

I'm so glad I was raised Jewish

exmarx
Feb 18, 2012


The experience over the years
of nothing getting better
only worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_sY2rjxq6M

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Alec Bald Snatch
Sep 12, 2012

by exmarx

Judakel posted:

Has there ever been a more irrelevant public figure who has garnered this much attention?

Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods.

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