Hallelujah, I鈥檓 a fag!
鈥淕od hates fags鈥� and 鈥淭hank God for dead soldiers鈥�
These words of odium are just part of the anti-gay hate campaign Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) cronies are torturing grieving families with at the funerals of deceased kids. Whether they鈥檙e victims of HIV, brutal gay bashings, or they鈥檝e lost their lives while in service for their country 鈥� it seems it isn鈥檛 enough for this crazed bunch of zealots to hate us for being ourselves. According to the US Supreme Court, it鈥檚 also apparently part of their democratic right to freedom of speech to picket at the funerals of gay soldiers.
Even for fundamentalist bible thumpers, this is all kinds of crazy. Christianity, by definition, is living by the doctrines of Christ; a moral code. To love thy neighbour. And these rednecks couldn鈥檛 be further removed from that. In stark contrast with recent international anti-bullying campaigns, these self-appointed 鈥榓nti-fag theorists鈥� wish to deny us basic human rights. The right to adopt. The right to marry. And now it seems, the right to a dignified funeral.
Most Christians distance themselves from the maniacal crusading of the Westboro ratbags. But they personify the religious right at its worst. Family First and the Exclusive Brethren aren鈥檛 much better. And all this Mary MacKillop fuss makes my head hurt. Fine, if you want to believe that shite. But keep your deluded rubbish to yourself.
Organised religion will never die. People need something to believe in. We鈥檒l always be persecuted while they cling to those few feeble passages in the Bible. And according to homophobic bigots, we 鈥榗hoose鈥� to be gay anyway.
I must wonder, just when did they decide to be straight?
They have a website, you know. The WBC. It鈥檚 suitably called Godhatesfags.com. I say, let鈥檚 bombard these hypocritical hate-mongers with words of reason, glitter and goodwill. In with anger, out with love. Better yet, demand an end to the noxious propaganda of religious halfwits.
Faith 鈥撀� whether in a God, in others, or in ourselves 鈥� is an intensely personal thing. I don鈥檛 have much faith in others. Nor do I pine for some omnipotent deity floating about the heavens. If that makes me a cynical heathen, then so be it. At least I know I can count on myself.
And at least I鈥檒l have some cool friends in Hell.
GodBless59 quotes Leviticus 18 as saying male homosexuality is an abomination.
But Leviticus 11 also says eating prawns is an abomination, and Leviticus 19:27 and 21:5 forbid cutting off your beard. I see no reason (apart from prejudice) to pick one law to be enforced and ignore the others.
At Castro Street Fair back in 2000, I remember a drag queen saying to the crowd “…and they come here with their tired, old placards that say ‘God Hates Fags’. How lame is that? Why don’t they say something that would really offend us like ‘Those Pants Make You Look Fat’. That would really hurt.”
Satire is often the best way to deal with these people as the Rally for Sanity in the US the other day demonstrated (pun intended).
This has proven quite the conundrum for the US Supreme Court.
I tend to feel there鈥檚 a difference between exercising one鈥檚 democratic right to peacefully protest and hijacking The First Amendment to disseminate hatred and bigotry.
Isn鈥檛 it enough that we live as a marginalised community and face discrimination our whole lives? And now our funerals 鈥� where our loved ones are grieving – are also fair game? Surely everyone鈥檚 entitled to a dignified funeral.
GLBTI 鈥榓gendas鈥� are typically peaceful protests which don鈥檛 adversely affect others 鈥� and we鈥檙e usually only calling for acceptance and change for a better, more progressive and loving world. Gay rights are human rights, after all.
Inflicting grief and trauma on the (heterosexual) families of the deceased should not be part of someone鈥檚 democratic right. If it is, then it needs to change. I guess that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 been challenging for the Supreme Court.
I鈥檓 sorry, these hypocritical idiots make me so mad. They鈥檝e been on my radar for a while now. They claim to be 鈥楥hristians鈥� and yet this would have to be one of the most heinous acts I have ever heard of. They are insane, clearly. But they still do a lot of damage.
GodBless59 – I think I just felt some fire and brimstone shoot out my ass.
Everyone else – good points. Cheers for your posts.
Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Whatever you think, you cannot change God’s Word regarding homosexuality and will one day have to pay the price regarding what He has written. Homosexuals can still be saved by Jesus Christ. God Bless you.
Its democracy we don’t like it but it has to exist. I won’t put on here what I would like to do because it would only be hateful, but they are offensive, rude and violate people at their lowest point in life, when someone has passed.
Thats a good point Nick and logically the answer to your question would be “No”.
They still suck though :oP
Whilst I agree these Christian extremists are way out of line, one must still consider The First Amendment, which provides everyone with the right to freedom of speech. Similar laws have allowed us to peacefully protest for many LBGT agendas in this country. We may disagree with what these protestors are doing, however they are exercising their democratic right. Is it so different…..?
AMEN!! This is an all time low for these freaks!!
Oh These people are freaks, I remember them being in the spotlight of fame before but the members of this church are mainly Fred Phelps family members so basically the church will continue forever as the adults will bully all this crap into the kids making them the new members etc.
youtube “Shirley Phelps-Roper” the interviews of her are so warped, and also check out: