You Knew This Was Coming…

January 23, 2008 By Guest Contributor 31 Comments

Westboro Baptist Church, home of Fred Phelps, has plans to picket Heath Ledger‘s funeral.

Ledger was one of the Oscar-winning stars of the movie Brokeback Mountain.

heathpicket.jpg

***Update***: Did anyone else know there was a site called Phags for Phelps, which argues that WBC is good for everyone because it “give homophobes a bad name. Unlike stealth homophobes, the Phelps … don’t hide their repugnance under a bushel. Every time they appear on the nation’s television screens, they show millions of Americans just how ugly unadulterated bigotry is.” (Via Richard Roeper)

(via New Humanist and Grazatt!)


[tags]atheist, atheism, Christian, Jesus, homosexuality, gay, lesbian[/tags]

Filed Under: General, GLBT 31 Comments
  • Adrian

    Trust the Phelps clan to not distinguish between a movie and real life.

  • http://www.blacksunjournal.com BlackSun

    I thought the $11 million judgment shut these guys down for good.

  • Mriana

    Oh brother. :roll:

  • Viggo the Carpathian

    I truly hope there is a hell for Phelps and his cronies. If there is pure evil in this world, it’s him.

  • http://uncrediblehallq.blogspot.com/ Chris Hallquist

    Thanks, Hemant. Biggest laugh I’ve gotten all day.

  • Milena

    “sordid, tacky bucket of slime seasoned with vomit”

    That’s harsh.

    I still have difficulty believing that these people are serious. I mean, how can anyone be so filled with malicious hate and still feel self-righteous about it?

  • http://www.thereturncoc.blogspot.com JP Manzi

    I am surprised he is still alive. With such horrible stuff he does he must have a 1st class security team to protect him.

  • grazatt

    He has a big family

  • http://unorthodoxatheism.blogspot.com Reed Braden

    sigh

  • Scott

    In America we allow his kind of slime because of his right to be a prick if he wants to. What do you think the Aussies will do to them if they dare to show up at the funeral?

  • Emma

    As an aussie, I think I can speak for most of us when I say that this sort of disgusting behaviour would not be tolerated if they dared to show up. We aussies are not shy about showing people when we don’t appreciate what they are doing. Remember, we have huge areas of desert where anything can and does happen…(anyone see ‘Wolf Creek’?).

    That said, I doubt anyone is actually going to fly all the way to Perth just to make a point.

    I’m so sorry that you in the USA have to deal with these kinds of people.

  • http://ecstathy.blogspot.com Efrique

    As Emma says, I doubt they’re going to fly all the way to Perth* just to picket his funeral.

    Maybe they’ll just picket whatever memorial services are held in the US.

    * (where his funeral will be – but when did a fundie ever let facts get in the way of a good rant, eh?)

  • Richard Wade

    Fred Phelps, aka The Human Hemorrhoid really deserves to be turned into a pile of carbon by a bolt of lightning. The fact that this has not happened is a strong argument for atheism.

  • http://www.runicfire.net ansuzmannaz

    Pretty bleak, eh? Just when we’d need a god to clean up that bigoted mess of a man, too.

  • Jen

    Words will never express how fucking obnoxious Phelps and his loyal band of assholes are. Though I think the Phags may have a certain point- Phelps and his view on the world is ugly, but is it really that different from your garden variety “I would never beat up a gay, but marriage is a sacred bond between heterosexuals…”?

    If you hold what you believe to be legitimate views against same-sex unions, you don’t want these ignorant clowns representing you. Come on, Richard Roeper, I adore you, but what the hell could a legetimate view against same-sex marriage be, exactly? Phelps is simply a louder version of that same attitude. There is absolutely no logical reason for allowing churches to define a state institution.

  • http://emergingpensees.com MikeClawson

    These guys make me sick. I wish they’d just go away, though Phags for Phelps make a good point.

    There is absolutely no logical reason for allowing churches to define a state institution.

    I agree. And vice versa. The state shouldn’t be allowed to define church institutions either. I think each religious or cultural group ought to be able to decide for themselves what marriage means to them and the state should just stay out of it. The state should just give civil unions to anyone who wants one, with all the rights and privileges that currently come with marriage, and then leave marriages entirely up to private groups and individuals, whether religious or non-religious. That way anyone can get married who wants to and the state can just stay the hell out of it.

  • http://singleservingjack.blogspot.com/ Neil Davies

    I saw this only a few hours after I heard about Heath’s death and at first i didn’t believe it could be real. But a quick check online told me it was and boy did it make me feel sick and angry.

    A couple of people have said to me, “y’know when that old fuck dies I hope there’s a gay pride march at his funeral” and part of me hopes that too, but then I also think that the gay community (or atheist community, or whoever) would show those sick losers that we don’t have to stoop to their level. Trouble is I doubt anyone in the Phelps clan would understand that.

  • Ben

    The state shouldn’t be allowed to define church institutions either. I think each religious or cultural group ought to be able to decide for themselves what marriage means to them and the state should just stay out of it. The state should just give civil unions to anyone who wants one, with all the rights and privileges that currently come with marriage, and then leave marriages entirely up to private groups and individuals, whether religious or non-religious. That way anyone can get married who wants to and the state can just stay the hell out of it.

    Except for those of us who are non-religious. How about the state grants marriages, and the churches grant ‘religious unions?’ Or we could just let the word ‘marriage’ have multiple meanings like it does now.

    I apologize if I’m over-reading into your language usage here, but I hate the whole idea of ‘civil unions.’ I’m married, damnit, with no church sanction whatsoever.

  • http://heathendad.blogspot.com/ HappyNat

    There is another site that tracks all of of Freddie’s protests. Reading through the site makes me sick to my stomach. The site is calling for more people to take action against him and shut them down (or at least shut them up) for good.

    If there was a god who intereacted with the people of this world at all, Fred would have been a pillar of salt years ago.

  • stogoe

    I agree with Ben – we should revoke the state-granted power to hand out marriage licenses from religious institutions. By all means, have your god bless the unions you approve of, have big tremendous ceremonies with the bride’s best friend singing a saccharine tune off-key and wholly inappropriate best man’s toasts. Parties are great. I love them.

    But to get the tax breaks from the government, you gotta go down to the county courthouse and get a marriage license.

  • http://hoverFrog.wordpress.com hoverFrog

    You get tax breaks for being married? Do Americans in civil unions gain the same tax breaks?

  • Mriana

    Civil unions get nothing- they aren’t even noticed in 49 states. I think it was New Jersery who finally decided to notice them as being legal last year or the year before. Even though I’m not gay, I don’t think it’s far for the state to notice oppisite sex marriage and give them tax breaks but ignore same sex unions. Something seems wrong with that. Either give all unions tax breaks for being “married” or give no one a tax break for being married.

    Now if the same sex couple has kids- either from a previous opposite sex union or adoption, they get a tax break for that, just as other people do. Weird huh?

  • grazatt

    I know Phelps is a world traveler so don’t be too surprised if he does turn up in Australia!

  • Adrian

    Just imagine taking a dream vacation to Australia only to find that you’re sitting next to Fred Phelps for the 16 hour flight to Sydney. Nooooooooooooooooooo!

  • http://heathendad.blogspot.com/ HappyNat

    Just imagine taking a dream vacation to Australia only to find that you’re sitting next to Fred Phelps for the 16 hour flight to Sydney. Nooooooooooooooooooo!

    I think I’d just flirt with him for the whole trip to keep myself entertained.

  • http://emergingpensees.com MikeClawson

    Except for those of us who are non-religious.

    No, I included the non-religious in my statement. They can define marriage anyway they want to too. What a “marriage” is should be up to each couple according to their own beliefs. The state should deal in legal benefits and nothing more.

  • J Sveda

    Well, that’s a kind of announcement that I would expect as part of propaganda of some dictator/communist regime. Not good :(

  • http://atheists.meetup.com/531 Ben

    What a “marriage” is should be up to each couple according to their own beliefs. The state should deal in legal benefits and nothing more.

    The state DOES only deal in legal benefits. Those legal benefits accrue to those who are married, which is a legal status.

    I think we’re saying the same thing…not sure, though.

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  • Clae

    I know that this is extremely old, but I would really like to point out that Fred Phelps is a maniac, and I would ask that you not judge Christianity based on one crazy asshole and his family. As a true follower of Christ, I’m severely sickened by his actions, and he does not display Christlike attitudes or behavior in any way. He is a complete bigot, and a real dick about his protests. There is a civil and courteous way to disagree with someone without insulting them personally, and I promise that he, nor any of the other TURN OR BURN protesters are an accurate representation of the love of God. He is a God of love, not of anger or wrath. Let me say this and I’ll be done. God doesn’t care if you ever change the way you live, He just wants you to love Him. Anyone that tells you different is wrong. It’s just logically incorrect that under a covenant of as much grace as Christians have, that you would be demanded to change your whole person. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that Phelps is a dick, and I really don’t like him, and that God still loves you no matter what. =) have a fantastic day, please.

  • http://www.bernerbits.com Derek

    Clae, I have to say I really, honestly appreciate your sentiment, and I wish more Christians like you were “vocal and annoying” like the angry fundies.

    But whenever someone makes this claim about themselves:

    true follower of Christ

    I immediately start thinking “No True Scotsman”, because it carries with it an implicit connotation that there are “false” followers of Christ, at which point, given the HUGE variance in beliefs that are called “Christian”, it becomes hard to take you seriously.

    I think, instead, the best claim any Christian can make is that they make an earnest effort to follow Christ in the best way they know how.