04/27/2009
Westboro Baptist Protests Walt Whitman's Sexuality, Gets Pwn'd
The Washington Post says being gay is a "lifestyle":
But the real news of this post is the counter-protest put together by students at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, in response to the arrival of seven hags from the Westboro Baptist Church on Friday:
"The police presence -- 40 officers, five horses, blocked-off streets and a football field's length of yellow tape -- seemed comically disproportionate until the counter-protest arrived. At the 2:10 p.m. dismissal, 500 students issued forth from the campus and lined up, several students deep, along the police tape, across Whittier Boulevard from the congregants. They alternately chanted the school name and "Go home!" -- drowning out voices from across the street."
The WBC was there to protest Walt Whitman's sexual orientation, if you can believe it.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 5:45 PM EST by Andy Towle in Fred Phelps, Maryland, News, Shirley Phelps-Roper | Permalink
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Shit they must all be imune to the cool-aide. Note to self - double the dose.
Posted by: Juan | Apr 27, 2009 5:52:14 PM
The kids should have offered the out-of-state visitors refreshments to soothe their throats... say coolaid.
Posted by: kansastock | Apr 27, 2009 6:00:03 PM
wow...simply pathetic. they really have nothing BETTER to do.
Posted by: liz templin | Apr 27, 2009 6:18:50 PM
It's funny that one prostestor is wearing a GAP tanktop.
We should have a "teabaging" style counter protest but instead of teabags, we mail them packets of Kool-aid.
Posted by: Beef and Fur | Apr 27, 2009 6:31:54 PM
write the washington post's writer daniel to tell him not to perpetuate the usage of the rightwing's stupid word "lifestyle". c'mon it's 2009. people should know better.
Posted by: Joe | Apr 27, 2009 6:32:58 PM
It is quite ironic and bizarre that a Westboro Baptist Church member is wearing a "GAP" logo-emblazoned tank-top to protest a high school because it's named after a homosexual. Gap is headquartered in San Francisco and employs many a homosexual at all levels. I mean, when she talks to God, why didn't God tell her that?
The Westboro Baptist Church delights me, actually. They reflect the views of, say, Rudy Giuliani (equal marriage opposer/hypocrite) to their logical extreme. They really force the point: Is contempt of gay people (inc. marriage inequality) OK or not OK?
Posted by: Andrew | Apr 27, 2009 6:50:23 PM
Obviously WBC hasn't had their mass suicide yet.
Posted by: Olive Yurdich | Apr 27, 2009 7:00:34 PM
Seriously, where do these asshats get the money to travel all over the world to do these stupid demonstrations?
Maybe they have a passive/aggressive death wish - they want to be over-run and destroyed by normal Americans. They want to be mertyred, umm... martyred. (The first one really was a typo, but I liked it, so it stays!)
Posted by: MikeinSanJose | Apr 27, 2009 7:02:47 PM
I love the comments about the GAP. Thanks for thap, I mean, that. Seriously, their doing nothing but helping us. It's so nice to see our youth having more of an understanding.
Posted by: will | Apr 27, 2009 7:08:47 PM
Walt Whitman is one of the best schools in the country (acc. to Newsweek rankings). I live in the general area, and I agree. And Bethesda has some of the priciest zipcodes in the nation, and very liberal too.
Posted by: tropos | Apr 27, 2009 7:11:52 PM
I liked the bit when one of the Phelps daughters, saying that she would consider herself cursed by God if she had a gay, quoted the "sins of the fathers" admonition.
Um, dear, you do remember who your father is, don't you?
Now let me dig into a bit of scripture, namely "bless those who curse you." May you be blessed with a gay child
Posted by: Glen | Apr 27, 2009 7:30:16 PM
Wasn't the Westboro Freak show suppose to Off themselves or something, or was I just having a pipe dream?
Posted by: mb00 | Apr 27, 2009 7:35:51 PM
I can't wait for these fuckers to die.
Posted by: Tralfaz | Apr 27, 2009 7:42:03 PM
I'd almost be sad to see these freaks gone. They bring more people to our side every time they open their disgusting mouths.
Posted by: Steve | Apr 27, 2009 8:12:00 PM
Shirley Phelps: See, this is what happens when Your momma and poppa are brother and sister...
Posted by: Michael | Apr 27, 2009 8:48:53 PM
I always get this nagging feeling that they are actually our friends doing a false flag thing because people always seem to come out more in support of us after these shenanigans
Fred was once a great a civil rights activist and participated in Brown vs Board of education on the side of integration.
Is the old coot slick enough to have realized the best way to help us gays is this crazy shit showing the utter insanity of religous fundies????
The "church" has no members outside of family members. hmmmmmmmmm
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Apr 27, 2009 9:00:26 PM
Jimmyboyo. I actually thought that a long time ago. This would be the long term way to do it. Just act like a hate group and when they take it too far you get demonstrations like this with many people in support of us but the trick is that you must never let on or everything you have done will have been for nothing.
Posted by: Aiden Raccoon | Apr 27, 2009 9:13:05 PM
Whenever a WBC member speaks I hear Ursula singing in the background.
I admit that in the past I've been a nasty
They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch
But you'll find that nowadays
I've mended all my ways
Repented, seen the light, and made a switch
True this
And I fortunately know a little magic
It's a talent that I always have possessed
And dear lady, please don't laugh
I use it on behalf
Of the miserable, the lonely, and depressed (pathetic)
Poor unfortunate souls
In pain, in need
This one longing to be thinner
That one wants to get the girl
And do I help them?
Yes, indeed
Those poor unfortunate souls
So sad, but true
They come flocking to my cauldron
Crying, "Spells, Ursula, please!"
And I help them!
Yes I do!
Posted by: Bren | Apr 27, 2009 9:15:33 PM
yes, but given the (awful?) clothing choices, it seems the Phelpians probably violate the abomination of wearing clothes made to two different textiles. (polyester blended with a little cotton, nylon, etc.). Maybe we need to have fashion police follow them around and suggest 100% cotton or other natural fibers otherwise God will smite them. Lev. 19:19
Posted by: Ja | Apr 27, 2009 9:16:00 PM
Aiden
:-)
Stranger things have happened on this crazy world.
Whichever. They help wether intentional false flag or they are one sincere hatefilled towards gay once on the side of angels with civil rights crazy family. They always elicit big outporings of support for us either way.
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Apr 27, 2009 10:25:59 PM
"Seriously, where do these asshats get the money to travel all over the world to do these stupid demonstrations?"
They demonstrate mainly to provoke assaults by angry people. They then sue the assailants for everything they own.
Posted by: Blurgle | Apr 27, 2009 10:29:28 PM
I agree, the WBC has got to be a creation of people on our side. There is no way they could be serious--about an absurd and counterproductive "protest" like this, or about their inflammatory slogan.
Have you ever wondered where they got such a perfectly catchy/outrageous slogan or memorable sign design (the bold bars of color with "God Hates Fags" in that distinctive font, which remind me of Queer Nation graphics.)
Are fearful, culturally unsophisticated straight kansas christians likely to come up with slick propaganda like this?
And who is paying for their travel?
Posted by: Miles | Apr 27, 2009 10:29:34 PM
Oh, and they don't do much international travel. Only in the US is it possible to sue someone for one thrown punch and end up with everything that person owns.
Posted by: Blurgle | Apr 27, 2009 10:31:05 PM
can't we just ignore them already. if they come to spread hate , let's not counter-demonstrate. let them chant at no one. let's not give them coverage on tv, blogs, the internet.
they feed off having counter demonstrators and media coverage.
Posted by: miaedu | Apr 27, 2009 11:00:07 PM
It's not that they're suing individuals (though they might - I don't know for certain) -- more often they go after municipalities that they can prove violated their rights. I think that's why their protests are so well attended by law enforcement these days.
Posted by: Andrew | Apr 28, 2009 12:37:41 AM