02/12/2008
'Million Fag March' to Target Westboro Baptist Church
Kansas City area residents Chris Love, a 28-year-old computer programmer, and college student Bethany Rowell are fed up with Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church picketing anti-gay hate around the nation. So fed up that they've begun organizing a "Million Fag March" (to use a term dear to the Phelps clan) in hope of spreading a message that intolerance is unacceptable.
They plan to march on the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka this March 30.
I asked Love why he was organizing an event that might only serve to promote the church's message.
Said Love: "In reality, we know nothing is going to change the Phelps or the Westboro Church. We know they'll continue doing what they are doing. In fact, they'll probably love any press we get for them. The point here is that up until now, there hasn't been a highly-publicized event in which someone made an active protest against the WBC (in other words, where the protest wasn't simply a defensive reaction at the site of a WBC protest... mainly funerals). At most, we're hoping that the WBC hears the message and realizes that there is an opposing voice that is equally as powerful as their own (or at least, the powerful as they perceive it to be). At the least, we hope to hold an event that will bring both homesexual and heterosexual people together for a united cause for one day. And in Kansas, no less."
Love emphasizes that this isn't a "gay-only" event and he hopes plenty of heterosexual people will join on. When I spoke to Love he had roughly a couple hundred people signed up to attend the march. They're hoping to improve the attendance via word-of-mouth and the internet.
The group has a Facebook page and a MySpace page, and also its own website, for more information.
Million Fag March [official site]
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 2:00 PM EST by Andy in Fred Phelps, News, Shirley Phelps-Roper | Permalink
Comments
Million FAG March? In Kansas?!? *sigh* Wouldn't their efforts best be served with a Million Gay March to the White House?
Posted by: johninmanhattan | Feb 12, 2008 2:09:35 PM
talk about synchronicity... i love it, this is exactly what i was proposing in another post re gay marriage, a million fag march indeed... from kansas all the way to washington, go baby go!
Posted by: the queen | Feb 12, 2008 2:19:18 PM
This is awesome. While self-entitled gay urbanites sit on their arses and take for granted what mythical rights and acceptance they presume to have (but really don't), I'm glad some less spoiled people are trying to change minds.
Posted by: jeff | Feb 12, 2008 2:24:48 PM
Oh, Yeah! We sooo need to be calling ourselves "FAG" to the world! Not!
Why are media whores so often retarded?
Posted by: Michael Bedwell | Feb 12, 2008 2:34:56 PM
Wonder if they'll need guest speakers? Well, if they can't get Louis Farrakhan, I, Stepin' Fetchit, will gladly step in. Can y'all imagine Ms Fetchit in drag singing "Stormy Weather". A Kansas tornado will come along and blow their f....kin' church all the way to Idaho...for real, honey.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Feb 12, 2008 2:46:13 PM
Michael, is "media whore" anything like "comment whore"?
Posted by: crispy | Feb 12, 2008 2:51:44 PM
Million Nigger March? Thats offensive!
Million Fag March? What an awesome idea!
This is sad.
Posted by: johninmanhattan | Feb 12, 2008 3:01:56 PM
um, it's called taking the word the Phelps clan loves to use against us and turning it against them. get a clue.
Posted by: sam | Feb 12, 2008 3:36:44 PM
Nothing is offensive on the blogs, JOHNINMANHATTAN. Name-calling is part of the etiquette, aint it. One can spew any crap out their mouths and it will be met with counter crap: "faggot, nigger, spic, kike, chink, jap, irish mick, german nazi kraut, wop, greasy guinea, white trash, redneck cracka', imbred hillbilly, nappy-headed ho, white trash slut, macacca, cocksucker, fudge packer"-- beautiful names for all. Take your pick...keeps rainin' all the time, the time...keeps rainin' all the time.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Feb 12, 2008 3:38:38 PM
If someone called more than half of us a Fag we would be running to our bosses at work or filing a complaint with human resources and well we should. African Americans have taken a tongue lashing in calling themselves the "N" word and they should. Don't diminish the fact that being called a Fag is demeaning and degrading to all L,G,B,T American and the ONLY way it will stop is by us to help end it. Having said that I think the Million Fag March is offensive and should NOT be used. Why are we giving this hate mongrel any thunder, The Reverend Phelps is self destructing and his message goes NO WARE anymore, Americans know better than to buy into it. So don't feed into it by having a march and then insulting our community on top of it.
As a Police Officer who happens to be gay, I fight for our civil rights every day and you should too. Stop beating ourselves down!
Posted by: Mike the Cop | Feb 12, 2008 3:45:39 PM
This is stupid.
It is like marching to an insane asylum and protesting the actions of a handful of mental patients.
I actually like what they are doing - they quote straight from the bible and it is hard to argue with the message which is written there in black and white. Perhaps people will finally see how hateful and irrational christianity is.
Posted by: God | Feb 12, 2008 3:50:20 PM
careful sam, your internalized homophobia is showing.
Posted by: johninmanhattan | Feb 12, 2008 3:54:52 PM
Um, slurs will always remain just that - slurs.
That said, I like the IDEA, though.
Posted by: banjiboi | Feb 12, 2008 3:58:39 PM
The only thing God hates is the ugly, hateful religious right and the Republicans who populate it. And, that comes from this loud, out HOMOSEXUAL who will tell any of the Westboro and its sick ilk at a GOP rally, sorry, memebers to thier faces that fact. Got's to do better than using that silly slur, unless you need a light for a cigarette.
Posted by: Sebastian | Feb 12, 2008 4:17:42 PM
Big mistake. Gives them more legitimacy than they have now or should have.
Posted by: rascal | Feb 12, 2008 4:27:39 PM
My guess is they used the word so people would notice the event and talk about it. Seems to be working here.
Posted by: John | Feb 12, 2008 4:50:15 PM
I feel like the title needed one more meeting before being settled on. What would be wrong with "Million Gay March: We Are Not Fags!" or are we trying to keep it simple...
Posted by: junior | Feb 12, 2008 4:56:38 PM
I'm afraid this will turn out to be more like the 10 or 20 fag march. and yeah, lets not demean ourselves by calling ourselves fags, please?
ps-God's comment made me laugh..."This is stupid.
It is like marching to an insane asylum and protesting the actions of a handful of mental patients." couldn't agree more.
Wouldn't this be more effective if we were protesting some of their protests, like that biker group???
Posted by: Lucas | Feb 12, 2008 5:04:20 PM
I'm not sure about this march, but I already have my sign made for the day Fred goes to hell. It says 'Phred's Phucked'.
Posted by: kansastock | Feb 12, 2008 5:36:04 PM
They are NOT demeaning us! They are reclaiming the word from that creep Phelps. I say march over there and burn their compound to the ground.
Posted by: Matt | Feb 12, 2008 5:37:46 PM
yeah matt, look what a great job black people have done of reclaiming the N word. get fucking real.
Posted by: Lucas | Feb 12, 2008 5:59:19 PM
This COULD be a good idea. I agree some things need to be worked out, including the title of the march.
BUT, if it can be marketed to the world as--"Hey, if you don't support us gays in this march, you are supporting homophobia AND people who picket the funerals of members of the military", then maybe even some kind of homophobic people will join in (John McCain).
Just market it right, that's all.....
Posted by: jmg | Feb 12, 2008 6:11:15 PM
Just ignore the SOB
Or, better, do like a lot of communities are doing and have gays agree to donate a certain amount of money for each minute that Phelps and his gang of wackos protest gay pride marches. Every second the guy is out there with his "God Hates Fags" bs, more money goes to runaway gay youth, or AIDS charities, or whatever else would turn his stomach.
Posted by: Jay | Feb 12, 2008 6:26:40 PM
Just one question, I mean forget the name of the march or if it's a good idea or not, where and how the fuck do you get a million queers to Kansas in a weekend, not to forget feed and house them? It was hard enough here in NYC for the Gay Games/Gay Pride 25th celebration, not to mention the March on Washington.
Maybe it's something in the water out in Kansas, or marrying your cousins, not to well thought out I'd say.
Posted by: patrick nyc | Feb 12, 2008 8:19:17 PM
Those people are practically a cult. I wouldn't be surprised if the situation were to suddenly turn very ugly, like Waco ugly.
Posted by: erik | Feb 12, 2008 11:13:17 PM
How 'bout you do this: ignore them.
Or is that too hard?
Posted by: yoshi | Feb 12, 2008 11:14:50 PM
They have been IGNORED long enough!
Posted by: Imprtnrd | Feb 13, 2008 9:53:34 AM
The babtist confuse gods love with their hate and I think phelps is in the closet and probaly more like Senator Larry.
Posted by: Ken | Feb 13, 2008 10:54:49 AM
Good luck getting all those "fags" to rural Kansas.
Posted by: Matt | Feb 13, 2008 11:00:11 AM
Even Dorothy left Kansas, think about it!
Posted by: Bear | Feb 13, 2008 1:06:37 PM
The Democrats are in the process of rejecting Hillary Clinton because they think a Black liberal with no national leadership background is more electable than a woman would be. Now my neighbors in Kansas are ready to converge on the Phelps family compound brandishing "God Loves Fags" signs in a "Million Fag March". This is what passes for progressive strategy? I'm convinced of it now . . . America has gone plumb crazy!
Posted by: Stuffed Animal | Feb 13, 2008 2:56:29 PM
If you want to get rid of the Phelps, go after their tax-exempt status via the IRS. We (as taxpayers) support the Phelps' political (they talk about troops aka national security/foreign policy issues) statements via their "church" which is a HUGE no-no.
Posted by: Shawn Fassett | Feb 14, 2008 2:59:10 AM
I like the name. Y'all is a bunch of thin-skinned pansy boys. I'm proud to be a fag. I like the term cocksucker, too. I mean, it's true...
Posted by: phil | Feb 16, 2008 6:54:27 PM
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what it is called, now does it. Semantics aside, anyone who wants to show the world that the hateful words these people spew come from some of the most hypocritical citizen's of this country are not welcome or tolerated need to show up, stick together, and make a statement.
The infighting here is exactly what this group loves to see.
Personally, I would like nothing better for this group to go broke and slither away into oblivion. Unfortunately, it will take others' to push them in that direction - in unity.
All citizens who are concerned with the real potential capable inside of humanity need to attend and make a statement. For the advancement of the species as a collective whole, acceptance and cooperation between, and in spite of, differences is a must.
Posted by: Dave | Feb 17, 2008 12:53:46 PM
The IDEA is good, but I doubt there will be
many heterosexuals joining...just because of 'that' word. Many gays already disagree
about it (the comparison 'million nigger march' is quite interesting) and not many older gays or young hets would be willing
to tell their family or friends that they
joined the 'fags march' not to mention the pics or the tv broadcasts in which they risk to be seen....
Posted by: Rudy | Feb 18, 2008 6:21:36 AM
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