Free Speech: Court Reverses $5 Million Ruling Against Gay, Jew, and Soldier-Hating Westboro Baptist Church

A federal appeals court reversed a $5 million judgment (originally an $11 million judgment, which was reduced) against Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church, ruling that the church's protest outside the funeral of an Iraq veteran was free speech:

"The ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., held that the signs and writings of the Westboro Baptist Church, which included anti-gay and anti-military messages, are protected by the First Amendment. The Topeka-based congregation has protested at military funerals across the country."

The dead Marine's father says he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In related news, the WBC has begun an assault on New York City, targeting Brooklyn Tech because the school says "it’s OK to be gay."

They'll also target Jewish temples:

"The bigots will protest on Saturday in front of Congregation Beth Elohim on Eighth Avenue in Park Slope at 9:45 am, at Union Temple on Eastern Parkway in Prospect Heights at 10 am and the Kane Street Synagogue in Cobble Hill at 12:30 pm on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. On Wednesday, church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper said the rallies were not anti-Jewish or anti-gay. 'How about we call it an ‘Obey your God’ rally?' she said. 'You Jews and gays have got to put away your false gods, your idols and your filthy way of life.' She added that 'God hates the disobedient.' ... 'We picked these weekends because these are the high holidays,' she said. 'You Jews broke the covenant with God. The beast is going to bring the nations to march upon Jerusalem. Your houses will be destroyed and your women ravaged. It’s going to make the Holocaust, the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of the Temple look like a tea party.'"

A video of the group outside Jewish Theological Seminary yesterday, singing "Hava Nagila", AFTER THE JUMP...

Michael Savage, Fred and Shirley Phelps Banned from UK Over Hate

The UK Home Office has published a list of individuals banned from entering the UK since October:

"Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, said she decided to make public the names of 16 people banned since October for fostering extremism so others could better understand the behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate. Smith told GMTV: 'I think it's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country.'"

Among them are Westboro Baptist Church's Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper: "Pastor and leading spokesperson of Westboro baptist church. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the United Kingdom."

Also banned is radio host Michael Savage: "Controversial daily radio host. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence."

Full list here.

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...

Westboro Baptist Church Planning Suicidal Exodus?

Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church recently left a blog post that has some wondering if the extremist group is planning a mass suicide (a la Jonestown). A little excerpt from the post (link goes to WBC blog) written in their typical hag-alect:

"We are particularly urgent about it, because the time is shortly to come when we will grant you your wicked wish, Doomed america!  Your smart-assed pundits and foul-mouthed politicians have for years told us to pack up and leave if we don’t like this filthy little cancerous boil on the butt of the earth.  You all think you’re so clever that you can come up with such cutesy little quips.  You’re collectively so Bible dumb that you don’t know what you’re saying.  So let me help you out.

"Look at the examples in scriptures when a nation – or world – of Godless rebels cry out at God’s patient Saints to get the hell out!  Noah got on the ark and God shut the door – then the entire population of the world was wiped out.  YAY!

"Lot tried to get his sons-in-law to listen and leave Sodom with him – but they liked their country and told him he was crazy.  He left.  They were toast!  YAY!

"Before God wholly wiped out the greatest army in history, he had to get his people to “come out with great substance”. (Genesis 15:14)  YAY!

We gotta go, peeps!  We gotta go!  And when we do, it’s time for this filthy nation to receive of all the plagues that your Creator has promised.  The reason there is such urgency in those words … such passion in the irresistible call from our Saviour, Husband, and Friend … is because when that time comes for this rebellious nation – which is spiritually called Babylon and has become literally Babylon by the inexplicable and forcible snatching of that Mesopotamian land where ancient Babylon sat – it is going to be very fast and very violent, such that all mankind is utterly and simply amazed.

...

"So when you see us drop in, tell you about why God has begun your march to destruction, and then get out – it’s because the time is short.  We have a job to do, and very little time to do it...When we’re done, we will leave your filthy land and be placed safely out of the reach of the horror that will then land upon you swiftly and certainly – in one hour."

(gossip boy via joe.my.god)

'God Hates Fag Hag' Shirley Phelps-Roper Goes to the White House

Shirley Phelps-Roper and a contingent from the Westboro Baptist Church paid a visit to the White House yesterday to pray for God to shortly destroy the "antichrist" Barack Obama. They were met by counter-protestors who far outnumbered them, according to Campus Progress.

Watch footage and interviews with Phelps-Roper and the clan, AFTER THE JUMP...

Frat Boys Offer Fred Phelps an Animal House Protest for Tolerance

When Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church arrived at the University of Chicago earlier this week, counterprotestors lined the opposite side of the street from the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity house, where the frat boys were planning a "coming out" protest all their own.

And come out they did.

I'll take red shorts and a white bathrobe over intolerance any day.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...