Westboro Pranked For Thanksgiving

Via Pink News:

An online hoax has tricked thousands of people into calling the Westboro Baptist Church to ask about turkeys. An article from hoax site National Report claiming that turkeys were being recalled due to a dangerous strain of Avian flu went viral ahead of Thanksgiving this week, being shared thousands of times on Facebook. It claimed: “The CDC has confirmed that millions of turkeys have been recalled due to safety concerns over an avian virus that the birds may be harbouring. “The virus is related to human influenza virus but was thought to lack the ability to infect humans. Individuals that have purchased a turkey from any manufacturer are encouraged to call the Turkey Safety Hotline that has been established in collaboration with the CDC and several major turkey suppliers. “The hotline is available 24 hours a day at (785) 273-0325.” However, instead of the non-existent Turkey Safety Hotline, the number provided was actually the switchboard for the famously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church – leading thousands of people to try and call them.

The National Report is a satire site.

KANSAS: Westboro Appeals To The Tenth

Like the wackadoodle Unruhs, Westboro Baptist Church has appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court after being denied permission to intervene in the Kansas marriage equality case.

WBC appeals the erroneous conclusion that WBC lacks sufficient interest in these proceedings to intervene, after WBC has faithfully warned for 25 years, using every lawful means of publishing; pleading with the citizens of Kansas to obey God; to put away proud sin; and to not let the sins of adultery (including divorce/remarriage), fornication, greed, murder (including of unborn babies), and pride, be used to justify the even worse sins of homosexuality and same sex marriage. No group of people has toiled in the vineyard of warning of the impact of same sex marriage more tirelessly than the members of WBC; and no group of people has a greater interest in vigorously opposing plaintiffs’ claims.

Read the full brief at Equality Case Files.

RELATED: On Friday the Tenth Circuit Court denied the stay pending appeal request made by the state. Barring a stay by SCOTUS, same-sex marriage becomes legal in Kansas tomorrow.

KANSAS: Westboro Baptist Files Motion To Invervene In Same-Sex Marriage Case

From their motion:

It is no small matter for a nation to accept the sin of sodomy, and the lifestyle or agenda that it entails. The description of the utter annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah and three nearby cities is stark, and directly tied to homosexuality. This historical event described in Genesis 19:1-28, Holy Bible, must be considered at this hour, in all its graphic glory, and can be found at Addendum 2 for ready reference. Every adult, child, suckling and animal – utterly destroyed. (Most likely amidst a lot of talk about committed loving relationships and dignity and respect.) Sodom is held as an example in the New Testament, for instance: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

As we saw with the Unruhs, Westboro's motion will doubtlessly be rejected. Read the full filing at Equality Case Files. (Tipped by JMG readers David and Daniel)

Westboro Protests Huffington Post

BRITAIN: Comedian Taunts Westboro Baptist To Picket Islamic Extremists In Iraq, Westboro Agrees To Go

Via Gay Star News:

The Westboro Baptist Church has accepted comedian Adam Hills’ offer to go to Iraq. Hills, who hosts British TV show The Last Leg, ranted about the ‘God Hates Fags’ church after they claimed Robin Williams was in hell for being a ‘fag enabler’. They also said they would protest at the late actor’s funeral. The threat angered Hills, offering to fly members first class to Iraq to picket the extremist Islamists beheading Christians there instead. 'If you really believe in standing up to those threatening the Christian way of life, Westboro Baptist Church, how about putting your money where your mouth is, taking a direct flight to Iraq and picketing the people threatening to behead Christians if they don’t convert?' Hills said if they chose to fly, he believed one of two things will happen. 'Either you’ll die while defending your beliefs and you’ll be carried away to heaven by a gold chariot to sit at the right hand of God for all eternity,’ he said. 'OR if I’m right, and I’m willing to bet a dozen first class flights that I am, God will be standing at the pearly gates alongside a 5ft 8 hairy American comedian dressed as a middle aged Scottish nanny saying, “Heeeellllooooo”.

Yesterday Westboro tweeted: "Iraq, here we come." That was followed with their announcement that they will picket the Missouri funeral of Michael Brown. The comedian's clip below already has 1.3 million views.

God Vs Westboro

Via Gay Star News:

The brain behind Facebook’s popular ‘God’ humor page has crowdfunded over $40,000 in a campaign to erect pro-gay billboards in the home town of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. ‘God’s’ followers pledged the funds in just ten days, and ‘God’ now plans to buy more billboards with the message that ‘God loves gays’ in other parts of the United States if he can raise further funds. Supporters will be rewarded with bumper stickers, limited edition t-shirts and posters saying ‘God loves gay’ signed by ‘God’ himself. Around 1,200 people pledged to fund the campaign with donations of between $1 and $75 for the total package of rewards. God announced yesterday that he had booked the first billboard and that it will be erected in Topeka, Kansas on 8 September.

This is a different God than the one on Twitter. The crowdfunding page is here. Below is the promo clip that went up last week.

Tweet Of The Day

Folsom Street Fair Trolls Westboro

More photos here. (Tipped by JMG reader Stephen)

RELATED: Westboro is in the Bay Area to picket outside of the Google, Facebook, and Twitter headquarters. Yesterday they announced that they will protest at the funeral of "fag pimp" Robin Williams.

Straight Owner Of Hell's Kitchen Gay Bar Performs Westboro Baptist Blues

The dancers are the bartenders at Flaming Saddles.

(Tipped by JMG reader Robert)

Washington DC School System Applauds High School For Westboro Counter-Protest

Newly-Out DC High School Principal Leads Counter-Protest Against Westboro

Woodrow Wilson High School principal Pete Cahall came out last week during his school's LGBT pride event. There's no word yet this morning on whether Westboro has actually followed through on their threat to picket the school today.

Brad Paisley Trolls Westboro

Headline Of The Day

Details. (Tipped by JMG reader StrayKat)

Westboro Chased From Oklahoma Town

Westboro staged a protest in an Oklahoma town yesterday to let the locals know that a recent tornado had killed those children because of the gays. The locals weren't having it.

Westboro’s permit to picket was for half an hour. They had been there a mere eight minutes when several people took matters into their own hands. Some Moore residents crossed the picket line to go after Westboro members. Dan Eccles said, “I was afraid of a riot really. I didn’t know how long Westboro would stay, which they were smart to leave.” Police were able to hold back the Moore residents while the Westboro bunch rushed to pack their signs in their cars and leave. Dan Eccles said, “They shagged tail, got in them cars and was leaving in a hurry. Oh yeah, they was gone!” “I thought it was hilarious. I mean I really did. We sat there and laughed the whole time,” said Tina Johnson. “They were running, yeah.”

Westboro Baptist To Picket Liquor Store That Mocked Death Of Fred Phelps

(Tipped by JMG reader Paul)

Rachel Maddow: Westboro Baptist Church Brought Out The Best In Americans

RELATED: As an underscore to Maddow's point, counter-protesters displayed the below banners at Westboro's first post-Fred Phelps picket, which was held outside a concert for teenage pop star Lorde.

Father Who Lost Landmark SCOTUS Case To Westboro Baptist: Let Fred Phelps Be Buried In Peace, I Don't Like Hate

Prior to yesterday's death of Fred Phelps, the Military Times spoke to the man who fought Westboro Baptist Church right up to the Supreme Court for picketing the funeral of his Marine Corps son.

Al Snyder sued Westboro Baptist after its members picketed the funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matt Snyder, who was killed in Iraq on March 3, 2006. Snyder did not see the protest during the service, but afterward he saw television coverage of church members holding signs that “God hates you,” “You’re in hell,” and “Semper Fi fags.” The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in the church’s favor in 2011, deciding the protest had been held peacefully in a public place and the issues the church raised were a matter of public concern. Even though the Westboro Baptist Church protested his son’s funeral, Snyder won’t lash out at Phelps during his last days. “I do not like Westboro Baptist Church; I don’t have anything nice to say about them, but if I had anything bad to say about them at this time — or if he dies — it would put me in the same category as him, and I don’t want to be in that category,” he said. “I don’t like hate.”

The attorney in that SCOTUS case says, "I think the best revenge for people is to show Pastor Phelps and his family the mercy and compassion that they’ve denied to everyone else and I’d encourage to pray for him. If somebody feels the need to get back at the Phelps group, support the wounded warrior groups." (Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

Judy Shepard On Death Of Fred Phelps

"Regarding the passing of Fred Phelps, Dennis and I know how solemn these moments are for anyone who loses a loved one. Out of respect for all people and our desire to erase hate, we’ve decided not to comment further." - Judy Shepard, in a posting on the Facebook page of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. (Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

Equality Groups React To Phelps Death

People For The American Way

Fred Phelps made a name for himself by protesting the funerals of soldiers and hate crime victims. In particular, he spent decades causing immeasurable pain to LGBT people and their families. My thoughts are with all those people today. Very much in spite of himself, Fred Phelps was an important figure in the movement for LGBT equality. Other right-wing leaders have chosen their words more carefully, and the WBC even protested some far-right activists for being insufficiently hateful, but plenty of Religious Right leaders have always agreed on Phelps’s core message: that God reacts to gay people with divine punishment in this world and damnation in the next. Fred Phelps just said what so many anti-gay activists have always believed. When Americans were faced with the choice of accepting their LGBT neighbors or endorsing Phelps’s unfiltered hate, they chose the former. He showed anti-gay bigotry for what it really is: profoundly un-American. Phelps lived to see a nation that more and more decisively rejected his vile message. That’s his legacy.

Truth Wins Out

“Fred was a net positive for the LGBT community,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen, who once referred to Phelps as a "walking hate crime." “The organized Religious Right despised him. They would spend big money to concoct elaborate schemes that tried to make raw hate appear to be love. Then Fred would come along and foil their careful plans with a 'God Hates Fags sign.'" Fred Phelps’ slogan continues to be the primary message of groups like the American Family Association, Family Research Council and lesser entities like Americans For Truth and Mission America, distilled into its simplest form. Indeed, Phelps’ fundamental honesty exposed the true face of anti-gay hatred in America. “Fred was a loathsome creature,” said TWO’s Besen. “But I’ll say one nice thing about him: He’s the only honest person on the Religious Right I’ve ever met. He says what many of them truly believe but are too careful to say publicly."

National Gay & Lesbian Task Force

Fred Phelps will not be missed by the LGBT community, people with HIV/AIDS and the millions of decent people across the world who found what he and his followers do deeply hurtful and offensive. Through his actions, he brought needless pain and suffering to thousands of families, including to military families, at their time of greatest pain and grieving. While it is hard to find anything good to say about his views or actions, we do give our condolences to his family members at what must be a painful time for them.

More reactions will be added to this post as they come in.

Westboro Reacts To Death Of Fred Phelps

Westboro Baptist Church has been tweeting up a storm in reaction to the death of Fred Phelps.  They have also published a lengthy, scripture-laden statement. An excerpt:

The world-wide media has been has been in a frenzy during the last few days, gleefully anticipating the death of Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. It has been an unprecedented, hypocritical, vitriolic explosion of words. So – the death of Fred Phelps’ body, a man who preached a plain faithful doctrine to an ever darkening world, is nothing but a vain, empty, hypocritical hope for you. It’s like every journalist in the world simultaneously set aside what little journalistic integrity they have, so that they could wait breathlessly for a rumor to publish: in-fighting, succession plans, and power struggles, oh my! How shameful! You’re like a bunch of little girls on the playground waiting for some gossip!