(CANADA) Anti-gay group fails to disrupt funeral
-
By 365gay Newscenter Staff
08.11.2008 9:29am EDT(Winnipeg, Manitoba) Despite claims they had thwarted a government ban and had entered Canada, members of an anti-gay group that purports to be a church failed to show up for their threatened protest at the funeral of a man who was stabbed to death and beheaded aboard a Greyhound bus.
Members of Rev. Fred Phelps Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., claimed they had successfully entered the country by removing material that referred to the church from their vehicles and shipped them by courier to Winnipeg after the material was used to blocked them from another crossing into Manitoba on Thursday.
A directive was sent to border guards last week by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to bar the group under Canadas hate crime law, after Pat Martin, a New Democratic Party member of Parliament from Winnipeg, said he had received hundreds of complaints about the planned protest.
The Phelps group said it would protest at the weekend funeral of Tim McLean to show Canadians that murder was Gods response to liberal Canadian policies toward homosexuality.
A large police contingent was on hand to prevent trouble at the funeral. Earlier in the day, more than 500 Winnipegers filled nearby streets determined to prevent any protest from being seen by mourners.
McLean, 22, was brutally attacked as he sat in his seat on a Greyhound bus traveling west of Winnipeg on July 30. A fellow passenger has been charged with murder.
The Phelps followers were no-shows at two other protests in Canada over the weekend. The group had threatened to demonstrate in Red Deer, Alberta where a local theater company was performing The Laramie Project, a play about the homophobic murder of college student Matthew Shepard.
The group also failed to make good on a threat to demonstrate in Toronto where a satirical play titled The Pastor Phelps Project is being performed.
Westboro Baptist members frequently demonstrate at funerals for American servicemembers killed in Iraq. The group claims the deaths are Gods punishment on America for being too pro-gay.
Westboros members are made up mostly of Phelps relatives. Although it professes to be Baptist, it is not affiliated with any national Baptist group.
Westboro operates Web sites including GodHatesFags and GodHatesAmerica and has been described as a cult.
Phelps and the church first came to national attention when he organized a protest by his followers outside the 1998 funeral for Matthew Shepherd.
-
This MORON and his group of followers constantly do this. Or at least, they attempt.
In my old neighborhood, a High School started a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance). They showed up and picketed on the opposite side of the street after a riot almost broke out when they were on the sidewalk of the school.
The obscenities they were yelling at these high schoolers were absurd!
If you live in the US, or neighboring countries, you should be very aware of this group and do what you can to stop there unorthodox practices. Showing up at a gay funeral is just wrong, where is the respect? They are a church organization- how they have not been dismembered is beyond me. We have the RIAA, MPAA fighting internet neutrality among many other insane things occurring like teens going to jail for kissing on public buses yet these banshees are allowed to continue these horrible, disrespectful acts.
One day, something will be done about this group- and I have a feeling it is not going to be pretty. Reminds me of how the founder of Cobra Videos was brutally murdered.
What comes around, goes around.
-
These people don't know their gluteus maximus from a
baptismal fontin-ground Olympic sized swimming pool. I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason they didn't show up was that they couldn't find Canada, the second largest country on the face of the planet!The announcement they put out for this non-event includes this wonderful passage:
WBC prays for more and
worse calamities from God.One of their recent informational flyers tells the world about the recent death of comedian George Carlin, and their plans to protest at his funeral. It says
George Carlin is now in Hell
and
now he must deal with God Face to face for ever
Now, stop me if I've made a mistake here, aren't they saying that God is in Hell? For ever?
They also have praised such things as the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, the death of just about everyone, including Fred "Mr." Rogers, Jerry Falwel and Heath Ledger, and thanked God for the great earthquake that caused heavy loss of life in China.
Perhaps they are actually Satanists, with the whole "God in Hell" thing.
Anyway, if you want to find out more about 'em, check out the Wikipedia entry at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church
-
Those assholes are terrorists as far as I am concerned. They should be tried as terrorists, found guilty and executed.
-
Now, stop me if I've made a mistake here, aren't they saying that God is in Hell? For ever?
They also have praised such things as the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, the death of just about everyone, including Fred "Mr." Rogers, Jerry Falwel and Heath Ledger, and thanked God for the great earthquake that caused heavy loss of life in China.
Perhaps they are actually Satanists, with the whole "God in Hell" thing.
Oh and the world KEEPS turning…. I am very impressed how you know about this group of idiots. Thank you for sharing the great links with everyone!
-
Something makes me think that one of Phread's sons turned out to be a friend of Dorothy. I don't remember the details of how he was expelled from the family, removed from all family reports and even erased from the pages of the family bible. I wasn't able to find what I'd consider to be a credible reference to it, but since the largest source of their new members is by generating family members, chances are high that they'd eventually get at least one of us. According to CNN, as of March, 2006, he has 13 children, 54 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren, and the Anti-Defamation site says the church has 71 members (January 2008). 3 of his children are "estranged", so the math looks pretty simple, until you consider spouses.
Anyway, here's another site that has some interesting things to say: hXXp://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=185
Edit: live link removed
