Judge Places Lien, Bond Order on Westboro Baptist Church

A judge in Baltimore placed a lien on the properties owned by Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KAnsas and ordered his daughters to post bonds of $100,000 and $125,000 within 30 days while the church appeals a ruling in which it was ordered to pay a $5 million judgment (halved from a prior judgment of $10.9 million) to the father of a soldier slain in Iraq. Albert Snyder took the church to court after it picketed the funeral of his son. The church has been picketing the funerals of many soldiers, saying that their deaths are the result of God's anger at America's tolerance for homosexuals.

According to the Baltimore Sun, "On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett placed a lien on the properties of the church and its founder, Fred W. Phelps Sr., and ordered two of Phelps' daughters to post cash bonds of $125,000 and $100,000 within 30 days. The church property was appraised recently at $442,800. Bennett also placed a lien on a $232,900 office building owned by Phelps and his wife that the family law firm uses. The liens mean that no new mortgages can be taken out on the properties, and no money can be borrowed against the equity in them. Bennett noted that it would require 'extraordinary circumstances' for the church to avoid posting a portion of the judgment."

On March 30, approximately 300 people gathered near the church's property in Topeka in a 'Million Fag March' to picket Phelps and his church's intolerance.

Sphere: Related Content

Gay Kansas Student Who Faced Expulsion Returns to School

Jimmy Iniguez, the gay Kansas high school student who faced possible explusion after officials said he "harassed" another student in a school bathroom, will be returning to school. The incident originated after Iniguez, who describes the other student as his "best friend," told his straight friend that because of their association people were saying that he was gay.

Iniguez faced a hearing last week and was allowed to return yesterday: "He received a letter from the district today saying a hearing officer found him not guilty of the charge. He plans to return to school at the Towne East Educational Resource Center on Wednesday. 'I'm very happy it worked out and I can go back to school,' Iniguez said. 'If anybody goes through what I went through, I encourage them to fight it and not give up.'"

The Towne East Educational Resource Center is a different school, however. Said Iniguez: "I really hope this next school is more accepting and tolerant towards differences."

Iniguez claims he was unfairly accused because he is gay.

Previously
Gay Student Faces Possible Expulsion for 'Harassing' Straight Friend [tr]

Sphere: Related Content

Million Fag March Targets Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church

Well, their numbers didn't reach a million, but approximately 400 people gathered Sunday in Topeka's Gage Park, near Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church for the 'Million Fag March' I posted about in February. The march was a symbolic demonstration against the WBC, who have for years targeted public gatherings, and more recently, military funerals, with their "God Hates Fags" message.

KSN reports: "People of all ages, races, and sexual orientation were present. The group of more than four hundred people marched throughout Gage Park, but were not allowed to cross any streets without a parade permit. The organizer of the march, Chris Love says he wants to show the Westboro Baptist Church there is an opposing voice equally as powerful. Other marchers feel the same. 'We don't agree with him talking about hatred and how God hates this god hates that,' marcher Angi Boetta said. 'We're just here to show him who we are and we're not going away no matter what you say or do.'...'All the haters and stuff they need to know that its not all about that, its about positivity and we're trying to create a positive influence towards gay people,' marcher Joshua Burch said. The Westboro Baptist Church is known for picketing the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, and says their deaths are God's way of disapproving of homosexuality in America."

In February, Love told Towleroad: "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."

Westboro Baptist responded to the march on Saturday on its blog: "This little event is a new milestone for the fags and their enablers of this generation. They must do this - heretofore, they have hidden in the dens and rocks and scampered out under cover of darkness to work their mischief - vandalism, theft, etc. They have even had a small protest here and there - just a couple. They NEED to do this - they MUST get their resolve stiffened and they MUST encourage this generation to see that this is a good path for them to take - it will certainly result in making the Word of God disappear from off the land and that means - MAKE US SHUT UP. So - hold onto your hat and stay tuned! We will shortly see the face of this event and what the Lord will do in response! The Lord is coming and america is DOOMED!! Things are getting into place and the very earth is preparing for that awesome and fiery event!! The dummies call it global warming!"

View local news coverage, AFTER THE JUMP...

Million Fag March [official site]
CJVideo: Million Fag March - VIDEO [topeka capital-journal]
March For Love Targets Westboro Baptist Church [myfoxkc]
Hundreds protest Fred Phelps and his church [ksn]
Marching in Protest [27 news]
Hundreds protest peacefully against Westboro Baptist Church [ktka]

Clips via Good As You.

Previously
'Million Fag March' to Target Westboro Baptist Church [tr]

Sphere: Related Content

Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno Screws Kansas Airport and Ben Affleck

On Friday I posted about Sacha Baron Cohen and his Kansas escapades as gay Austrian reporter Bruno. Officials at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport called Cohen's actions "unethical and highly inappropriate." And now there's video. Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

Turns out Kansas isn't Bruno's first victim. Ben Affleck was also fooled by Cohen.

According to SlashFilm: "Mike Walker of the National Enquirer reported the following on the Howard Stern Show on Thursday: Ben Affleck called comedian friend Sarah Silverman after completing a sit-down interview with a person he was told was a 'very famous openly gay fashion journalist'. Ben called the interview 'the weirdest sit-down he has ever had with a reporter' explaining that the interviewer’s (wholm he refered to as an 'idiot') first question was 'How Do You Like Niggers?' After a stunned silence, Silverman asked Affleck 'Was this guy’s name Bruno?' Then and only then did Affleck actually realize that the whole thing was a gag. There is no doubt that this interview will be featured in the final cut, which is currently scheduled to hit theaters in October 2008."

Watch Bruno's airport dance, AFTER THE JUMP...

Previously
Sacha Baron Cohen Terrorizes Kansas Airport in Hotpants [tr]

Sphere: Related Content

News: Al Gore, Wii Tennis, Tom Cruise, Lost, Chris Dodd

Lambda Legal to file suit in Iowa today on behalf of six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses.

Tom Cruise appearance sparks rumors of cameo on JJ Abrams' Star Trek set, but he was really there to meet someone special.

Al Gore on global warming skeptics: "You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat. ... That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off."

The American Family Association gave up their boycott of Ford Motors, but it looks as though they're trying again with another automaker, GM. Good As You: "What the hell gives these folks the right to go apeshit simply because a company dares to advertise to the LGBT community?! Good God of fringe extremism, why cannot they not at least accept that we are 'sinners' with a degree of disposable income, some of which we like to put towards cars?! We know they think we're barreling down the Highway to Hell. Fine. Let them think that. But can't they at least respect the right of an automaker to try and sell us a car whose climate control features will help us brave the unbearably hot Lake of Fire?"

Saulo Melo: Your hot Brazilian for Friday.

Dennis Miller does not share Bill O'Reilly's rage over San Francisco's Hunky Jesus pageant.

Hate crimes inspiring call to action in South Florida.

Senator Chris Dodd says we must end the Democratic primary: "Look, we've got five more months to go before the Democratic convention at the end of August and, candidly, we cannot go five more months with the kind of daily sniping that's going on and have a candidate emerge in that convention....We have two very strong candidates. So I'm worried about this going on endlessly and to a large extent...the media, a lot of these cable networks, are enjoying this. It's what is keeping them alive financially. The fact that this thing is going on forever, back and forth every day, all night -- I don't think it's really helping the candidates or the political institutions."

The folks who market Basil Hayden's whiskey think we're all a bunch of prancing fashionistas.

The Hills may be turned into a feature film: “I think if they were going to do a film of the hills they would basically film it like we do the show and they would just edit it into a movie. It would be like a really long episode.”

Wii Tennis about to get lifelike versions of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Tommy Haas.

Prison Break brings a major character back from the dead.

Exploring the time travel theory on Lost.

UK urges gay men to get tested for HIV: "The Health Protection Agency made the warning after new diagnoses among gay men topped 2,600 for the third year. But the figures do seem to have begun to plateau after a surge at the turn of the century. Overall, the number of new cases hit an estimated 6,840 in 2007 - a fall of 1,400 from the previous year."

An update on that school expulsion case in Kansas I posted about yesterday: "A lawyer representing a gay student charged with harassment said he was 'hopeful that things will work out' for the student after an expulsion hearing Thursday. 'We're all wanting him to get back into school. That's the main thing,' said attorney John McKean. 'We're encouraged and hopeful that it will happen rather quickly.' Jimmy Iniguez, 17, a junior at Metro-Midtown Alternative High School, faces expulsion for allegedly harassing a fellow student in a school bathroom Feb. 28. Iniguez, who has been suspended since the incident, says he is innocent and is being unfairly accused because he is openly gay. No decision was made Thursday. District policy dictates that the decision be sent to the student's family by certified mail."

Sphere: Related Content

Sacha Baron Cohen Terrorizes Kansas Airport in Hotpants

Sacha Baron Cohen, who is in Kansas shooting his film Bruno, which centers around his gay Austrian news reporter character, has been terrorizing various locations around the state, including Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport:

"Officials there are reviewing its media policies after the so-called German documentary film crew made a scene inside the main terminal on Friday. 'We were lied to,' says Assistant Airport Director Brad Christopher. 'We were duped.' Authorities say the film crew was not who they said they were. Last month, the group contacted Wichita airport officials about shooting part of their documentary on American culture at Mid-Continent. They arrived Friday and were shown around. Airport employees say they seemed professional. That is, until the cameras came on and the clothes came off. Witnesses say it almost looked like pornography. In the middle of the terminal, the film crew began stripping down. They were escorted out of the airport by police, and told to leave. Wichita Police, along with the Attorney General, are investigating the prank. Airport officials say it wasn't necessarily illegal, but it was unethical and highly inappropriate for a public location where security is paramount."

AFTER THE JUMP, a fairly old clip of 'Bruno' interviewing some wrestlers on Spring Break at Daytona Beach:

KAKE adds to the Kansas report: "Several locations in Kansas were targeted last week by a film crew claiming to be making a film about culture in America. Their actions have people across the state wondering whether they've been part of a 'Borat'-like prank. Pastor Greg Smith of Central Community Church says they were contacted by the film crew and were told they were working on a film to be shown in Europe. Smith agreed to let them film the Easter play being performed at the church. However, at some point, fellow Pastor Clint Dunn knew something was not right. In security camera footage from the church, you can see crew members making preparations to cover the security cameras before attempting to pull off their prank. Smith says one of the crew members was dressed 'biblically' and covered with chains. He believes they were going to disrupt the play going on inside the church at the time. Dunn quickly took action to prevent that from happening. He locked the doors and abruptly told the audience good-bye."

Sphere: Related Content

Gay Student Faces Possible Expulsion for 'Harassing' Straight Friend

Gay Kansas high school student Jimmy Iniguez faces possible expulsion after being identified as an accomplice in an incident which resulted in a straight friend's expulsion. That incident originated after Iniguez, who describes the other student as his "best friend," told his straight friend that because of their association people were saying that he was gay.

"According to Iniguez, the incident began when a female friend told him she had heard a rumor that a mutual male friend of theirs was gay. 'I told her that rumor was false,' Iniguez said. 'I said I would know, because I was his best friend.' But, 'it's like you can't be straight and have a gay friend,' he added. When the male student saw Iniguez in the bathroom later that day, he asked Iniguez what was going on. 'So I told him, 'Some people are saying you're gay, but don't worry. I told them it wasn't true,'' Iniguez said. 'But he still got kind of upset.' The student, who is 18, allegedly returned to class and threatened students and a teacher, Iniguez said. He was suspended and later expelled. School officials then suspended Iniguez, saying he was partly to blame because he harassed the teenager in the bathroom. 'It appears to me, if there's any harassment here, it's on the part of the administration at the school,' said John McKean, a lawyer representing Iniguez and his mother. The teenager, a longtime friend of Iniguez's, has agreed to testify on Iniguez's behalf at today's hearing, McKean said."

Iniguez has been suspended, unfairly he says, because he is gay: "I am openly gay, and some people don't like that. But I never bothered anybody. All I want is to go back to school."

An expulsion hearing was set for this morning.

Kansas Equality Coalition apparently held a press conference outside the school today.

Teen denies harassment claim [wichita eagle]

Sphere: Related Content

News: Kelly Rowland, Sundance, Vermont, Johnny Weir, Florent

L.A. Times columnist asks why The Kite Runner, and its controversial boy-rape scene wasn't included in the GLAAD awards. Maybe because sexual orientation had nothing to do with it.

Channing Tatum recruited for GI Joe film: "The 27-year-old modern-turned-actor will play Duke, a field commander and second-in-command of the G.I. Joe Team after Hawk. Other actors signed on: Sienna Miller as The Baroness, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaj (Lost) as Heavy Duty, Rachel Nichols (Alias) as Shana ‘Scarlett’ O’Hara and Marlon Wayans as Ripcord. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock From the Sun) is also in negotiations to join the project."

Randy Lovely promoted to editor of The Arizona Republic, making him the nation's only openly gay editor of a major U.S. newspaper: "Lovely says he has never hidden his sexual preference, but is not among the most outspoken gay rights activists. 'There are many others who are much more involved. I support them, but I am not on the leadership,' he says of his NLGJA membership. 'I have not had to be anything other than what I am. I can't be the one to tell anyone they have to be out. But it is not something I am afraid of.'"

New York meatpacking staple Florent, which I did a long photo piece on two years ago, may be closing...

Johnny Weir ties with Evan Lysacek at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships but Lysacek wins for skating better in the free skate: "First place, second place, last place, I'm just happy with the way I skated. I was so nervous, and it's fantastic vindication to know I came back and didn't completely fall apart. I feel like a winner."

Keith Olbermann would trade personal success for a decent president: "I think this has been a disastrous presidential administration. I would have given what I have, in terms of broadcasting success in the nature of this newscast, I would have easily said…if I were given the choice of this or some responsible presidency in the last four years or eight years? I would have taken a responsible presidency."

Gay ordained Presbyterian minister Brian Webb-Mitchell shares tips for gay parents in new book: "I wrote the book because there was nothing out there that was pro-gay, pro-child, pro-family and pro-Christian. The books that dealt with gay parenting and Christianity were not very pro-Christian. If anything, they steered people toward the United Church of Christ and away from Catholic and Evangelical churches."

Adrian Grenier brings along his own little entourage.

New board game created by son of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Sebelius set inside a prison is called "Don't Drop the Soap": "Fight your way through 6 different exciting locations in hopes of being granted parole. Escape prison riots in The Yard, slip glass into a mob boss' lasagna in the Cafeteria, steal painkillers from the nurse's desk in the Infirmary." And whatever you do, avoid those gays in the shower room!

"Pro-family" conservatives in Arkansas launch drive to stop unmarried couples from adopting or becoming foster parents. Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee: "Anyone who tells you that this initiated act is only about gay adoption is not telling you the whole story. Anyone who will tell you, though, that gay adoption has nothing to do with this act wouldn’t be telling you the whole story, either."

Sundance Film Festival winners announced...

Work: Kelly Rowland is proud as a peacock at G-A-Y.

Gay Miller Brewing executive Vic Milford shot and killed in Milwaukee robbery: "'At this time, this is a company grieving the tragic loss of one of its dearest employees,' [a Miller spokesman] said, in a statement. 'The immediate impact of this loss is being felt most by the family and friends of Vic Milford. And out of respect for the Milford family, we believe our attention is best served by caring for those most affected by this horrible tragedy.' Milford, a citizen of South Africa, had lived in Milwaukee since taking the Miller Brewing job in February 2005, Green said, and previously worked for SABMiller since 2002. Milford is survived his parents, who are residents of Zimbabwe, a sister in Australia and a man described as Milford's life partner, who lives in South Africa, according to a Miller statement."

Carol Channing is a robber magnet!

Gay Vermont legislator Jason Lorber moonlights as a stand-up comic: "When I first came here, people said 'You're the first comedian to come to the Statehouse.' I say 'I'm the first PROFESSIONAL comedian to come to the Statehouse'...Politics is about changing society and trying to make the world a better place. And performing makes me feel so alive. I love the creative aspect of it...Growing up, I never pictured myself being with a gay guy. Now, I've come to realize that I could never be happy being with a straight guy."

L.A. Times columnist: FOX News host John Gibson should lose his platform over Heath Ledger remarks.

Sphere: Related Content

Kansas Church: If Clay Aiken's Gay, He Can't Sing Here

Parishioners at the Central Christian Church in Wichita, Kansas where Clay Aiken is reportedly scheduled to give a Christmas concert in late November are apparently worried they might have a gay enter their holy sanctuary and want to make sure that's not the case before Aiken is allowed to sing there:

"The Central Christian Church controversy reached a fever pitch shortly after the performance was announced, and the executive pastor Mark Posson felt compelled to send a letter to concerned elders. A source tells the National Enquirer, 'Pastor Posson thought it was in the church's best interest to circulate a letter.' In the note, the pastor avoided the gay issue, declaring Aiken was a Christian who didn't 'drink, smoke, swear or womanise'. The clergyman also recalled interviews Aiken gave to Rolling Stone magazine and an internet site, in which he stated he was not gay."

Well, that doesn't sound like he "avoided the gay issue" to me, but take it for what you will.

Sphere: Related Content

Lawrence, Kansas Approves Domestic Partnerships

On Tuesday night, commissioners in Lawrence, Kansas made it the first city in the state to approve a domestic partnership registry. (video)

According to Lawrence Journal-World & News, "The registry will require both partners to be 18 years or older and “live together in a relationship of indefinite duration with a mutual commitment in which the partners share the necessities of life and are financially interdependent.” A registration fee, which hasn’t been set, will be charged to cover the administrative costs of the program. Supporters of the registry, which was proposed by members of the Kansas Equality Coalition, have said some companies offer health insurance benefits to domestic partners of employees, but the companies require some proof of the relationship. A registry run by the city could fill that requirement, they say."

The measure passed by a 4-1 vote. Said Commissioner Boog Highberger: "I think this is really something more appropriate for the state to take care of. But the state has failed us on this issue, and the federal government has failed us. If we are to have the type of city and type of life we want, we have to deal with this."

Supporters speaking at the hour-long hearing before the vote outnumbered opponents by 15 to 4.

Adds the paper: "Opponents of the registry expressed concerns that the city was being irresponsible by not requiring gay couples to submit to an HIV test, and that the city was harming the institution of marriage by promoting homosexuality. Others said they feared the registry was just the first step by activists to push for special rights for gay individuals."

Left-leaning Lawrence is a city of approximately 80,000 and is home to the University of Kansas.

Domestic registry approved [lawrence journal]

Sphere: Related Content

Kansas F5 Tornado: If You Think You Had a Rough Weekend

Check out this series of aerial shots of what little is left of Greensburg, Kansas. It's hard to look at these photos and not be astonished. Just tragic.

It was the first F5 (highest category) tornado to hit the counry in eight years: "Meteorologists of the National Weather Service said Friday night's tornado had wind estimated at 205mph, and carved a track 1.7 miles wide and 22 miles long."

Sphere: Related Content

News: Buddha, Island Vanished, Reggie Bush, Supergenes

REPORT: White County school board agrees to pay ACLU $168,000 for legal costs and $10,000 to student plaintiffs over longstanding gay-straight alliance feud.

Boy hailed as reincarnation of Buddha reappears after nine months in the wilderness: "The 17-year old teenager Bomjon, who had been "meditating without any food or water" in the jungles of Ratanpuri village in the district had disappeared under unknown circumstances in March this year and was found in the jungles near Pathlaiya-Nijgadh road section of the Mahendra Highway on Sunday."

Lawrence, Kansas (home to the University of Kansas) is considering a city registry for gay and lesbian couples: "Supporters said the registry would not automatically give gay and lesbian couples the legal rights afforded to married couples, but the registry would serve as a legal recognition of the couple's relationship. 'It would indicate that the city is welcoming and supportive of its gay community members,' said Maggie Childs, who heads the Lawrence chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition, which asked Lawrence Commissioner Mike Rundle to set up the registry. 'In my mind, the primary benefit is symbolic.'"

In the latest of its high-concept fashion ads, Diesel takes on global warming.

First inhabited island washed off the face of the earth by global warming: "The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true."

Sports Illustrated ponders the best-looking athletes. More on one of their picks, Reggie Bush.

POLL: New Hampshire residents more open to civil unions than gay marriage.

Godfather of Soul, James Brown is dead. Fans pay tribute...

Do you have the "supergene"? "People with this "supergene" have a much higher chance of living to age 90 and beyond without developing dementia, the confused thinking and memory loss that so often plagues the oldest of the old."

Couple roleplays the political way. (via AmericaBlog)

University of California Santa Cruz reconsiders blood donation drives after gay student is turned away. Student: "I was turned away because of my sexual contacts. The reasoning behind me not being able to give blood is ridiculous. ... It made me feel like an outcast."

Sphere: Related Content

More of Truman Capote's Belongings to be Auctioned

Infamous, the second Truman Capote biopic in as many years, failed to scrounge up much interest at the box office in its debut weekend, despite extremely positive reviews. It made $435,000 at 179 locations. Compare this with Helen Mirren's The Queen which made $1 million at just 46 locations. I guess the bigger queen won out in this case.

Truman Capote items from the collection of Joanne Carson (wife of the late Johnny) will go up for auction on November 9th at Bonhams New York and include the tuxedo he wore to the legendary Black & White Ball at New York's Plaza Hotel in 1966, a passport, a pair of monogrammed slippers, the writer's ice skates, and a diamond, emerald, eighteen karat gold and platinum ring he gave to Carson as a birthday gift in 1972.

According to ET, Capote was a friend of Johnny and Joanne Carson for 18 years and met at a book party for In Cold Blood, the writing of which is dramatized in 2005's Capote and this year's Infamous:

"After the Carsons divorced, Capote was a frequent guest at Joanne's L.A. home. Eventually he moved in, and in 1984 he died there. Joanne eulogized him at his funeral, and he left her a treasure trove of memorabilia, which she will auction off. All proceeds will go towards Joanne's dream of creating a hospice for ailing animals. The auction will also feature Capote's last work, a 17-page short story, handwritten at Joanne's home."

This isn't the first auction of old Truman Capote items. In 2004, Sotheby's auctioned off items which were remnants from a residence Capote had in Brooklyn Heights, NY. Those items included a first novel, Summer's Crossing, which was published by Random House in 2005.

More recently, while not a possession of Capote's, the Clutter farmhouse where the 1959 murders which inspired In Cold Blood took place, was recently put up for sale in Holcomb, Kansas.

You may have missed...
Truman Capote's Past Up for Auction [tr]
Site of In Cold Blood Murders Up for Sale [tr]

Sphere: Related Content

Site of In Cold Blood Murders up for Sale

The old Clutter family farmhouse, a national historic home and the scene of the gruesome 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, his wife, and two children that were the subject of Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood, is up for sale.

This according to a press release from Faulkner Real Estate in Kansas, which include quotes from a neighbor: "It's like the Amityville Horror House in New York or J.R. Ewing's house outside Dallas."

Now there's a selling point.

You may have missed...
From the Bad Timing Dept: A New, Infamous Capote [tr]
Truman Capote's Past Up for Auction> [tr]

Sphere: Related Content

Fred Phelps Targets Lakeway Hotel in Meade, Kansas

JR and Robin Knight, who caused the Kansas town of Meade to come undone by the simple act of hanging a rainbow flag outside their Lakeway Hotel, were targeted by Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church over the weekend. Approximately 30 members of the Phelps clan showed up with their signs but were outnumbered by gay activists and supporters who had come to counter Phelps' hateful messages.

Meade Police Chief Loren Borger was joined by 16 Kansas State Troopers and told the Wichita Eagle he couldn't remember a time when as many members of law enforcement had visited the small Kansas town that has made international headlines since the Knights raised the rainbow flag over the front door of their hotel.

Following our post about the Knights one month ago today, a debate joined by Meade town members (often anonymously) and the Knights themselves in the comment section of the post began to reveal the emotions and politics as a small town unraveled.

Since the original story broke, the Knights have been harassed by health inspectors, according to an email to supporters from JR Knight:

"On Wednesday, August 9, 2006 at about 5:20pm as we were seating our first customers we were visited by Kansas State Health Inspectors following up a complaint that our dog Kuma was hanging out in our restaurant kitchen. This is the sixth false compliant since we opened and the second involving Kuma. After a two hour inspection, during our busiest night in weeks, the inspectors only found two minor violations."

On August 11, a brick was thrown through the window of the hotel, according to Knight, who supplied photos of the brick and the damage:

Said Knight: "This incident has, as you can imagine, has caused Robin a great amount of stress, as well as relief that our 12 year old son is safe, far from this nonsense. I, being a hot blooded Italian, felt the anger building inside and remembering previous bouts of chest pain started belly laughing in front of the Officer both to relieve stress but more importantly to let the people here know, through the Officer, that they will not intimidate me. We cleaned up the mess, put up a board and even before I finished securing the board re-hung the flag."

Vandals who cut down the hotel's original rainbow flag have since apologized, and the hotel now has a new rainbow and American flag, Knight says, "courtesy of our new LGBT friends and supporters."

Previously
Rainbow Flag Brings out Bigots in Kansas [tr]

Sphere: Related Content

Rainbow Flag Brings Out Bigots in Kansas

A heterosexual couple who display a rainbow flag next to an American flag outside their bed and breakfast in the small town of Meade, Kansas have now found themselves the target of local bigots and a newspaper that they say is trying to put them out of business. After the local paper ran an article about the flag, a nightmare of bigot hell broke loose that had nothing to do with those other haters from Kansas:

Knight says the radio station has called him threatening to remove the restaurant’s commercials if he does not remove the flag. A local pastor stopped by said it was equivalent to hanging women’s panties on a flag pole. When Knight jokingly said he might consider that – the preacher said he would have him arrested.

His business has suffered - down to only a few local customers. The folks in Meade who've boycotted say it's too offensive for them to eat there.

Local resident, Keith Klassen says the flag is a slap in the face to the conservative community of Meade. “To me it's just like running up a Nazi flag in a Jewish neighborhood. I can't walk into that establishment with that flag flying because to me that's saying that I support what the flag stands for and I don't," says Klassen.

The B&B's owner, J.R. Knight, is standing his ground despite the hate he is facing from certain townspeople.

Said Knight: Any gay or lesbian people that do stop by will be treated with the best service I can give you. When this rainbow flag shreds, I will buy another one, and another one, and another one - just like my American flag, I'll buy another one."

This man is a hero in my book. When in Kansas, stay at the Lakeway Hotel, and somebody give this man a medal! J.R. Knight, we applaud you.

Rainbow Flag Creates Controversy [kbsd]

Sphere: Related Content