People are freakin crazy!
Anti-gay group to protest at soldier's funeral
Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket, but Patriot Guard group says it'll protect family.
By WILL ROTHSCHILD
will.rothschild@heraldtribune.com
SARASOTA -- The Sunday funeral service for a Sarasota soldier killed in Iraq could be turned into a spectacle of screaming protesters from an anti-gay group and the roaring Harley-Davidsons of a nationwide veterans organization.
For the second time in a month, members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas-based group which claims the United States is being punished by God for being friendly to homosexuals, plan to protest in Southwest Florida. The group, whose Web site says the country should outlaw sodomy and impose the death penalty for offenders, protested the newly formed Gay Straight Alliance at Port Charlotte High School last month.
This time, Westboro is taking aim at the funeral of Army helicopter pilot Kyle Jackson, 28, who was killed Jan. 13 when his helicopter was shot down by insurgents near Mosul, Iraq.
Westboro claims to have held more than 22,000 anti-gay demonstrations since 1991. But in the past year it has tried to connect its anti-gay rhetoric to the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, holding protests at more than 20 soldier funerals across the country.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of Westboro pastor Fred Phelps, said the group had already planned to be in Tampa this weekend for a protest of Gay Straight Alliance groups there.
"And then here came this opportunity to help the people of Sarasota connect the dots, and they certainly deserve that opportunity," Phelps-Roper said. "We're going to remind them that there is a God and a heaven and a hell and a day of choice."
Phelps-Roper said America is "feeling the sword of God" because it is pro-gay. A disapproving God "has become America's terrorist" and is sending soldiers home in body bags as proof, Phelps-Roper said.
Fred Phelps claims the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States were God's punishment on a "gay-enabling" nation.
"From the beginning, Phelps' group has been the single most vicious anti-gay group in America, bar none," said Mark Potok, who directs hate group investigations for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Ala.-based civil rights organization.
"But in recent years," Potok added, "Phelps has spiraled downward into utter madness. He is a walking hate crime."
The funeral protests have been roundly criticized by communities across the country. Some communities and states have gone so far as to consider drafting legislation to stop them.
Potok said the Southern Poverty Law . . . erty Law Center is trying to determine if any such legislation could be crafted to pass constitutional muster.
Kyle Jackson's father, Gary Jackson, said sheriff's officials alerted him to the protest.
"I expected stuff like this," Jackson said. "What it is, is they want to take advantage of the high media situation to make their statement."
He said his son's funeral will go on without a problem.
"Kyle is an American hero," he said. "The bigger stir they make, the bigger the hero he becomes. It won't hurt my feelings; we will deal with it. We have a great and caring community here and this is something that is in God's hands."
Westboro Baptist Church consists mostly of Phelps family members; only one other family in Topeka has joined the church.
Phelps has 13 children, but four are estranged from their father and have nothing to do with the church, according to Potok.
Phelps-Roper said about 10 church members plan to be at Jackson's funeral, planned for 1 p.m. Sunday at Phillippi Estate Park, 5500 S. Tamiami Trail.
If they want their message heard, they'll have to raise their voices above the din of perhaps hundreds of motorcycle engines.
The Patriot Guard is a nationwide coalition of veterans formed last year in direct response to Westboro's picketing of soldier funerals.
Their goal is to shield the family and friends of the soldiers from seeing or hearing Westboro's screaming, sign-waving protesters. The Patriot Guard tries to position its members between where the Westboro group demonstrates and the path of mourners.
"We're not counterprotesters or protesters," said Clayton Murphy, a Patriot Guard coordinator and a Coast Guard veteran who lives in Tampa. "We're there for one objective only and that's to protect the family.
"... We'll fire up the engines and drown them out so other people don't have to hear their hatred."
Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket, but Patriot Guard group says it'll protect family.
By WILL ROTHSCHILD
will.rothschild@heraldtribune.com
SARASOTA -- The Sunday funeral service for a Sarasota soldier killed in Iraq could be turned into a spectacle of screaming protesters from an anti-gay group and the roaring Harley-Davidsons of a nationwide veterans organization.
For the second time in a month, members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas-based group which claims the United States is being punished by God for being friendly to homosexuals, plan to protest in Southwest Florida. The group, whose Web site says the country should outlaw sodomy and impose the death penalty for offenders, protested the newly formed Gay Straight Alliance at Port Charlotte High School last month.
This time, Westboro is taking aim at the funeral of Army helicopter pilot Kyle Jackson, 28, who was killed Jan. 13 when his helicopter was shot down by insurgents near Mosul, Iraq.
Westboro claims to have held more than 22,000 anti-gay demonstrations since 1991. But in the past year it has tried to connect its anti-gay rhetoric to the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, holding protests at more than 20 soldier funerals across the country.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of Westboro pastor Fred Phelps, said the group had already planned to be in Tampa this weekend for a protest of Gay Straight Alliance groups there.
"And then here came this opportunity to help the people of Sarasota connect the dots, and they certainly deserve that opportunity," Phelps-Roper said. "We're going to remind them that there is a God and a heaven and a hell and a day of choice."
Phelps-Roper said America is "feeling the sword of God" because it is pro-gay. A disapproving God "has become America's terrorist" and is sending soldiers home in body bags as proof, Phelps-Roper said.
Fred Phelps claims the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States were God's punishment on a "gay-enabling" nation.
"From the beginning, Phelps' group has been the single most vicious anti-gay group in America, bar none," said Mark Potok, who directs hate group investigations for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Ala.-based civil rights organization.
"But in recent years," Potok added, "Phelps has spiraled downward into utter madness. He is a walking hate crime."
The funeral protests have been roundly criticized by communities across the country. Some communities and states have gone so far as to consider drafting legislation to stop them.
Potok said the Southern Poverty Law . . . erty Law Center is trying to determine if any such legislation could be crafted to pass constitutional muster.
Kyle Jackson's father, Gary Jackson, said sheriff's officials alerted him to the protest.
"I expected stuff like this," Jackson said. "What it is, is they want to take advantage of the high media situation to make their statement."
He said his son's funeral will go on without a problem.
"Kyle is an American hero," he said. "The bigger stir they make, the bigger the hero he becomes. It won't hurt my feelings; we will deal with it. We have a great and caring community here and this is something that is in God's hands."
Westboro Baptist Church consists mostly of Phelps family members; only one other family in Topeka has joined the church.
Phelps has 13 children, but four are estranged from their father and have nothing to do with the church, according to Potok.
Phelps-Roper said about 10 church members plan to be at Jackson's funeral, planned for 1 p.m. Sunday at Phillippi Estate Park, 5500 S. Tamiami Trail.
If they want their message heard, they'll have to raise their voices above the din of perhaps hundreds of motorcycle engines.
The Patriot Guard is a nationwide coalition of veterans formed last year in direct response to Westboro's picketing of soldier funerals.
Their goal is to shield the family and friends of the soldiers from seeing or hearing Westboro's screaming, sign-waving protesters. The Patriot Guard tries to position its members between where the Westboro group demonstrates and the path of mourners.
"We're not counterprotesters or protesters," said Clayton Murphy, a Patriot Guard coordinator and a Coast Guard veteran who lives in Tampa. "We're there for one objective only and that's to protect the family.
"... We'll fire up the engines and drown them out so other people don't have to hear their hatred."