Homophobia Online: The Westboro Baptist Church
Many racist and anti-Semitic Web sites also contain anti-gay propaganda,
but some Web pages, in particular C.N.G. (Cyber Nationalists Group) and
S.T.R.A.I.G.H.T (Society To Remove All Immoral Godless Homosexual
Trash), focus their hatred primarily on gays and lesbians. Perhaps the
most vile and best-known anti-gay Web site is God Hates Fags, which
is maintained by Benjamin Phelps, grandson and compatriot of Westboro
Baptist Church (WBC) leader Fred Phelps.
Incorporated May 15, 1967 as a not-for-profit organization adhering to
Calvinistic Baptist beliefs,65 WBC (which is located in Topeka,
Kansas) is well-known for picketing the funerals of AIDS victims and others
it perceives as homosexual or connected to homosexuality. God Hates
Fags contains an archive of photos depicting Fred Phelps and his supporters
picketing, carrying signs bearing slogans such as "No Fags in Heaven";
"Thank God for AIDS," and "2 Gay Rights: AIDS and Hell."
According to God Hates Fags, WBC has "conducted some 10,000
such demonstrations during the last five years at homosexual parades and
other events," including the funeral of slain University of Wyoming
student Matthew Shepard.
The site reprints dozens of flyers promoting its activities, including
a few regarding Shepard. One states:
Matt Shepard now believes the Bible. He checked into Hell Oct. 12 [1998]
where the worm that eats on him never dies and the fire is never quenched...Not
the wealth of the world, nor an act of Congress, nor a ruling by the
U.S. Supreme Court, nor all the prayers of mankind, nor any power on
earth can buy Matt Shepard a drop of water to cool his tongue or ease
his pain or ease his sentence a day short of eternity.66
Citing the Book of Romans, WBC asserts that the Bible deems gays and
anyone who supports them "worthy of death." The group believes
the activities of gays and their supporters encourage God's anger against
humankind. Addressing homosexuals, WBC states, "it was your ilk who
brought destruction on Sodom, and it will be your ilk who fuels God's
wrath to the point that there will be no remedy."
Reflecting a conspiracy-oriented outlook, WBC declares that gays have
an "agenda" they are trying to impose on an unsuspecting public.
This agenda involves "desensitizing the public," convincing
people "to affirm their filthy lifestyle," and turning them
away from Christianity. WBC believes, homosexuality is no longer classified
as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association only because
gays used "guerrilla theater tactics" at that group's convention
for two successive years. WBC also believes that gays "infiltrate
the house of God to try to make themselves look holy," and calls
religious congregations that welcome gay members, ordain gay ministers,
or perform gay marriages, "fag churches."
While WBC's anti-gay activities have received much press coverage, its
anti-Semitism has gone largely unnoticed. According to God Hates Fags
The only true Jews are Christians. The rest of the people who claim
to be Jews aren't, and they are nothing more than typical, impenitent
sinners, who have no Lamb. As evidence of their apostacy [sic], the
vast majority of Jews support fags.67
In 1995, WBC picketed a synagogue in Kansas because it was holding a
commemoration for victims of the Holocaust, including homosexuals.68
According to WBC, "fags" aren't the only people "God hates":
he "hates baby-killers," too.69 Like God Hates
Fags, the Christian Gallery Web site attacks gays, but its
main focus is near-violent opposition to abortion.
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