Anti-gay protesters at military funerals

[LauraR]

This just infuriates me. What a bunch of lunatics!! Whether you support the Iraq war or not, everyone should have respect for the people who have died there.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/06/btsc.lavandrera.funerals/index.html
DODGE CITY, Kansas (CNN) -- This past Saturday morning I found myself in a five-car caravan cutting across the Kansas plains with about 30 religious protesters. In the back of a truck, there were signs that read "Thank God for IED's" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

I was with the Phelps family. They've launched a disturbing campaign to tarnish the funerals of fallen soldiers.

This is a painful drama playing out at dozens of military funerals across the country. The group is led by Fred Phelps.

He and his family have picketed and heckled military families at more than 100 funerals since June. They say the soldiers are fighting for an army that represents a country that accepts homosexuality. (Excerpt from full article)

 

[Sylvester McBean]

practice whatever religion you want. (or not) but Fred Phelps has always been a hateful whack-job that doesn't fit in with normal society.

 

[RickinNYC]

Laura, no worries. Be assured that Phelps and his minion will be firmly ensconced in the depths of hell when their day comes. The absolute only thing they are succeeding at is proving their high loony quotient, and they're doing a spectacular job!

 

[LukenDC]

This family is indeed on the lunatic fringe. They are the same ones who taunted the grieving mother of Matthew Shepherd at his funeral. They have no valid conception of patriotism or homosexuality and certainly do not represent Christian values. Their lives are consumed with hate and as a result, their emotional and psychological turmoil must be staggering. Sadly, they have brought their small children into their movement. I have seen them in Washington and their children hold signs with pornographic comments and images regarding gay sex.

 

[LuvDuke]

Somebody ought to check the DNA of the Phelps's. Methinks Daddy's been doing more than just preaching. But, I digress.

We had a little visit from the Phelp's not too long ago. Our local high school started a gay/lesbian club in my little corner of SW Florida and the Kansas Phelps's took exception to it.

It was a grand party. We had parents out in force joined by the Viet Nam motorcycle brotherhood, the American Legion, the VFW, and other concerned groups.

I'm particularly proud of the Viet Nam brotherhood who gunned the motors on their bikes spewing noise and fumes right at the Phelps's. The brotherhood also go around the country at the military funerals protested by the Phelps's.

Anyway, we've dealt with bigger blowhards than the Phelps's. We've been through Charley.

 

[JCJRSmith]

Imagine what Fred's face will look like on Judgement Day when God tells him, "Fred, you SO did not get it."

 

[wvrevy]

Gee, that's funny...I thought that the bible said something about homosexuality being "an abomination" and placed death sentences on such things as planting two different crops side by side...but yet, here are so many christians saying that Phelps is somehow wrong in condemning this country for "allowing" homosexuality? I don't get it.

Obviously, this post has been made with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but if you sat quietly while the GOP went out of their way during the last election to make gays into second class - at best - citizens, then you've got nobody to blame for people like Phelps but yourselves. When the "majority" party is doing everything it can to make an environment hostile towards homosexuality, you don't have the right to complain, unless you've stood up against them, because Phelps and his kkklan are nothing more than a product of that environment.

 

[eyeoreismyhero]

Gee, that's funny...I thought that the bible said something about homosexuality being "an abomination" and placed death sentences on such things as planting two different crops side by side...but yet, here are so many christians saying that Phelps is somehow wrong in condemning this country for "allowing" homosexuality? I don't get it.

Obviously, this post has been made with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but if you sat quietly while the GOP went out of their way during the last election to make gays into second class - at best - citizens, then you've got nobody to blame for people like Phelps but yourselves. When the "majority" party is doing everything it can to make an environment hostile towards homosexuality, you don't have the right to complain, unless you've stood up against them, because Phelps and his kkklan are nothing more than a product of that environment.

Their are lunatices on all sides of the issue (the above posts for example) who make groups on both sides of the issue look bad.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

First off, those of the armed services who have died have paid the ultimate sacrifice for this country, and they deserve a decent and respectful funeral...regardless of how anyone feels about the homosexuality issue. Secondly, I feel that Phelps and his group are lunatics. They are a couple of taco's short of a combination plate.

 

[Bob Slydell]

First off, those of the armed services who have died have paid the ultimate sacrifice for this country, and they deserve a decent and respectful funeral...regardless of how anyone feels about the homosexuality issue. Secondly, I feel that Phelps and his group are lunatics. They are a couple of taco's short of a combination plate.

You can even drop off the armed services part -- EVERYONE, regardless of their profession, deserves a decent and respectful funeral.

And yeah, the elevator's definitely not going to the top floor on the Phelps' family tree. I wondered who'd actually follow a "preacher" like this guy -- then saw in the article that his "congregation" consists mainly of his family, so at least I felt a little better in knowing that much of his influence has stayed within his own DNA.

 

[cardaway]

When the "majority" party is doing everything it can to make an environment hostile towards homosexuality, you don't have the right to complain, unless you've stood up against them, because Phelps and his kkklan are nothing more than a product of that environment.

Possibly a lot of people thinking right message, wrong place?

 

[CapeCodTenor]

You can even drop off the armed services part -- EVERYONE, regardless of their profession, deserves a decent and respectful funeral.

You are correct sir, I do apologize for leaving out everyone. I know that if this group picketed at my Grandmother's funeral there would have been trouble.

 

[wvrevy]

Their are lunatices on all sides of the issue (the above posts for example) who make groups on both sides of the issue look bad.

Sorry, but if you support the GOP's ongoing efforts, you are different from Phelps and his band of "lunatices" (sic) only in degree, not in principle. Either you support equal rights for all people, or you don't. This isn't one of those issues where there is a lot of grey area.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Sorry, but if you support the GOP's ongoing efforts, you are different from Phelps and his band of "lunatices" (sic) only in degree, not in principle. Either you support equal rights for all people, or you don't. This isn't one of those issues where there is a lot of grey area.

Let's see, I voted for some GOP candidates, voted for some Democrat candidates and voted against all anti-homosexual bills (unfortunately, here in Ohio, they still passed the anti-gay marriage bill ). So where does that put me in the band on lunacy?

 

[eyeoreismyhero]

Sorry, but if you support the GOP's ongoing efforts, you are different from Phelps and his band of "lunatices" (sic) only in degree, not in principle. Either you support equal rights for all people, or you don't. This isn't one of those issues where there is a lot of grey area.

If that is true then that makes you no different (only in degree) then the idiots burning churches in Alabama because they don't like christanity. Right?

 

[wvrevy]

Let's see, I voted for some GOP candidates, voted for some Democrat candidates and voted against all anti-homosexual bills (unfortunately, here in Ohio, they still passed the anti-gay marriage bill ). So where does that put me in the band on lunacy?

If you voted for the people that pushed those amendments, then you ended up supporting them, regardless of how you cast your vote on the amendment itself. As the old joke says, "We've already established that...now we're just dickering over the price."

If that is true then that makes you no different (only in degree) then the idiots burning churches in Alabama because they don't like christanity. Right?

If that were actually why they were burning those churches, you'd almost have a point for a change. Unfortunately for you, however, it has a lot more to do with racism than it does any anti-christian sentiment. In fact, if you have ever seen any documents put out by the Klan, you'd know that they do, in fact, lay claim to being a christian organization. They are about as far from being anti-religion as you can get. They just hate black people...in kind of the same way some people hate gays.

 

[wvrevy]

Gee...Something just occurred to me when posting that last reply...Ever notice that you don't see a lot of really radical atheists? I wonder why that is?

 

[CapeCodTenor]

Let's see, I voted for some GOP candidates, voted for some Democrat candidates and voted against all anti-homosexual bills (unfortunately, here in Ohio, they still passed the anti-gay marriage bill ). So where does that put me in the band on lunacy?

This is a good question. I'm wondering the same thing. I'm republican, moderate, I have voted for republicans, and I have a gay uncle who's been with his life partner for about 12 or 13 years now. I support them, wish they could get married and have the same rights as everone else. So where does that place me?

 

[Bob Slydell]

If you voted for the people that pushed those amendments, then you ended up supporting them, regardless of how you cast your vote on the amendment itself. As the old joke says, "We've already established that...now we're just dickering over the price."

Who said the candidates I supported were those who pushed those amendments? Not all Republican candidates push a religious agenda.

 

[wvrevy]

This is a good question. I'm wondering the same thing. I'm republican, moderate, I have voted for republicans, and I have a gay uncle who's been with his life partner for about 12 or 13 years now. I support them, wish they could get married and have the same rights as everone else. So where does that place me?

Easy...if you voted Republican, it places you in the group that is to blame for them being denied their rights. What's so difficult about that?