God Hates (Penalty) F(l)ags

December 29, 2011 By 52 Comments

Robert Wilonsky, blogger for the Dallas Observer, reports that Westboro Baptist Church will protest the TicketCity Bowl in Dallas on January 2nd.

Why that game in particular? Well, the participants are Penn State and the University of Houston:

You can probably figure out why The Most Hated Family in America is out to get the Lions: “Penn State is like all of the universities in doomed USA: full of proud, fornicating, brutish sinners, bowing down to college sports. That’s why Jerry Sandusky had full reign to rape little boys, under the noses of the likes of your hero Joe Paterno and his bosses.” As for the Cougars? “Houston, meanwhile elected a dyke for Mayor.”

Victim-blaming and homophobia: standard operating procedure for the WBC.

But they won’t go unopposed. Occupy Dallas is planning a counter-protest.

Westboro will also picket the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic in Arlington on January 6th (you know, since they’re already in the area…):

If you gave even a fraction of the time, money, or interest in serving God that you give to the players on the field, this country wouldn’t be in the mess it is in. We are coming in warning to this foolish evil generation.

Tough love, considering one of the teams in that game is from their home state of Kansas. There’s no protest planned for that one, to my knowledge, but I’m sure someone can start one…

If you see them at either protest, be sure to let us know how it goes. (And take pictures!)

Filed Under: General, Sports 52 Comments
About Megan Wells

Megan Wells is an IT tech and sports blogger in Chicago.

  • http://twitter.com/0xabad1dea Melissa E

    At least they’re implicitly against child rape.

    Probably the only common ground we have…

    • http://wordsideasandthings.blogspot.com/ Garren

      You must be a glass-has-a-drop kind of person.

      • http://profiles.google.com/nathanlee2 nathan lee

        It’s like A1 sauce. Yes, the last drop is that important :)

    • http://www.facebook.com/matthew.c.pickard Matthew C Pickard

      Well, I don’t know why they shouldn’t be. In their sick and twisted minds, soldiers die because god hates fags. Isn’t rape of children also a sign that god hates fags?

    • Edmond

      I can’t imagine WHY they’re against child rape.  The bible never condemns it.  The bible never says ONE WORD about what the age of consent should be.  How can these people justify reaching an independent moral judgment, without having it spoon-fed to them from their book?

    • Edmond

      I can’t imagine WHY they’re against child rape.  The bible never condemns it.  The bible never says ONE WORD about what the age of consent should be.  How can these people justify reaching an independent moral judgment, without having it spoon-fed to them from their book?

    • Edmond

      I can’t imagine WHY they’re against child rape.  The bible never condemns it.  The bible never says ONE WORD about what the age of consent should be.  How can these people justify reaching an independent moral judgment, without having it spoon-fed to them from their book?

    • Edmond

      I can’t imagine WHY they’re against child rape.  The bible never condemns it.  The bible never says ONE WORD about what the age of consent should be.  How can these people justify reaching an independent moral judgment, without having it spoon-fed to them from their book?

    • Edmond

      I can’t imagine WHY they’re against child rape.  The bible never condemns it.  The bible never says ONE WORD about what the age of consent should be.  How can these people justify reaching an independent moral judgment, without having it spoon-fed to them from their book?

    • Edmond

      I can’t imagine WHY they’re against child rape.  The bible never condemns it.  The bible never says ONE WORD about what the age of consent should be.  How can these people justify reaching an independent moral judgment, without having it spoon-fed to them from their book?

  • Tim Rinehart

    Counter picketing is not a good idea.

    • Rod Chlebek

      Why

    • Trina

      Why on earth wouldn’t it be?  There are times when people need to speak up.  WBC is counter-picketed nearly everywhere they go.  I used to live in Topeka, where they picketed daily in one place or another, and as a matter of course carried a sign in the back of my car in order to counter-picket when I saw them and had the time to get out there for a while.  There was (may still be) a group in the city who counter-picketed on a more organized basis. 

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Scott-Rhoades/100000175617377 Scott Rhoades

        Because counter protesting gives them the attention they want. We should ignore them and the media should too. Giving them national attention only gives them what they want. If some group feels they absolutely can’t ignore them then they should simply ridicule them and not engage them directly. Don’t give them the conflict and chances for lawsuits that feed them. Make them feel like a joke every time they protest something.

        • Anonymous

          exactly. if i never read about these klowns again it’s too soon. 

        • Anonymous

          exactly. if i never read about these klowns again it’s too soon. 

        • Anonymous

          exactly. if i never read about these klowns again it’s too soon. 

        • Anonymous

          exactly. if i never read about these klowns again it’s too soon. 

          • http://itsmyworldcanthasnotyours.blogspot.com/ Anonymous

            You and me both. Unless it’s a news report saying they were killed by a freak “act of god”… that, I’d want to read.

        • Anonymous

          exactly. if i never read about these klowns again it’s too soon. 

        • Anonymous

          exactly. if i never read about these klowns again it’s too soon. 

        • Anonymous

          exactly. if i never read about these klowns again it’s too soon. 

    • http://profiles.google.com/nathanlee2 nathan lee
  • http://twitter.com/PerDSmith Per Smith

    I’m not sure I understand why Occupy Dallas is using time and resources to do this, regardless of how unjust and inhumane the Westboro folks are. They aren’t exactly the power elite.

  • Fester Sixonesixonethree

    Since they obviously hate “doomed” America so much, WTF doesn’t Westboro go somewhere else? Like Iran, or Iraq, or Nigeria?

    • NickDB

      Because they wouldn’t survive 2 minutes in another country. Iran, Irag or Nigeria they’re just get shot. In a Europe, australia or even when I stay in South Africa, they wouldn’t get funding, most courts here would just kick their lawsuits out and fine them for wasting their time.

      • NickDB

        Iraq*

  • Anonymous

    Can someone please tell me how the Westboro Baptist Church can afford to travel to all of these places? I’ve heard some of them are lawyers, but who would hire them?

    • Emma

      According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the WBC gets funding from two sources. They get some money from lawsuits. Sometimes, the counter-protests against the WBC turn ugly, so the church will sue the city they’re protesting in for failing to protect them. I’ve been more than one person suggest that the main reason why the WBC is so vitriolic is that they some angry person will give them an excuse to sue. Unfortunately, this is a strategy that has worked, though it’s not clear (to me at least) if this covers a significant chunk of their annual travel expenses.

      Their second source of funding is donations by congregants, i.e. the congregants’ incomes. Fred Phelps has a law firm (Phelps-Chartered Law Firm), though I have no idea how much money it makes, or if it has any clients outside of the WBC. Also, apparently at least three Phelps family members were on the payroll of the Kansas State Government as of 2007, and I haven’t found any news reports saying that they’ve been fired since then. 

      Also, they get tax exemption. Apparently virulent anti-gay hate speech does not count as political advocacy as long as they avoid explicitly advocation for or against specific policies or candidates.

      Most of the info in my post here comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center, Slate, and other sources cited by Wikipedia’s article on the WBC.

  • Xeon2000

    I think they are just an incredibly elaborate Poe and nobody has been able to see through it yet. Yes, that’s what I tell myself.

    • Charles Black

      That sounds like a cop out from anti gay bigots who try & fail of course to distance themselves from this hate group called the Westboro Baptist Craphouse.

  • Anonymous

    I’m always torn on the issue of the WBC.

    On the one hand, reading/listening to Nate Phelps has convinced me that the WBC thrives on attention. They were trolling before the term was known. Trying to understand their motivation for going to certain events fails unless you understand this; they will go where the cameras are. My dad once told me how the KKK decided they were going to have a meeting at his (integrated) college campus. Students got together in a meeting to decide how to react. In the end the KKK arrived and had their meeting and….no one went. A few bored reporters and a half dozen racist clowns and no story, no publicity for them. Part of me thinks this should be the policy for the WBC. Just pretend they don’t exist, and the press will lose interest and they will wither without the attention.

    On the other hand, they are really awesome for gay rights. I’ve lost count of the number of stories I’ve read of towns rallying around GLBT folks, or raising money for GLBT groups, or ordinarily conservative religious figures loudly decrying their message of hate. Nothing makes people run at quite the same speed towards the equality side than having the WBC stinking up the other side. The detestable James Dobson once dourly muttered that he wondered if the WBC weren’t actually double agents, considering how terrible they were for the PR of the anti-gay folks. In that light, the WBC do an involuntary public service, and thus reacting would be appropriate.

    • Charles Black

      Sounds like sour grapes on Dobson’s part if you ask me. He has too much pride to admit that he is wrong to treat homosexual people as 2nd class.

  • Mike

    Big Bob Wilonsky is terrrrrible.

    High five if you get it.

  • Mike

    Big Bob Wilonsky is terrrrrible.

    High five if you get it.

  • Jerad Hurst

    Not unusual regarding the Cotton Bowl game — documentaries on Mr Phelps show Jayhawk clothing, which probably means that he’s not a Wildcats fan.  Which is sad considering that KU is my alma mater…

    That said though, he also protests KU events, so I don’t think it bothers him much where he’s protesting.  Most of us in Kansas don’t like him either.

  • Jerad Hurst

    Not unusual regarding the Cotton Bowl game — documentaries on Mr Phelps show Jayhawk clothing, which probably means that he’s not a Wildcats fan.  Which is sad considering that KU is my alma mater…

    That said though, he also protests KU events, so I don’t think it bothers him much where he’s protesting.  Most of us in Kansas don’t like him either.

  • Jerad Hurst

    Not unusual regarding the Cotton Bowl game — documentaries on Mr Phelps show Jayhawk clothing, which probably means that he’s not a Wildcats fan.  Which is sad considering that KU is my alma mater…

    That said though, he also protests KU events, so I don’t think it bothers him much where he’s protesting.  Most of us in Kansas don’t like him either.

  • Jerad Hurst

    Not unusual regarding the Cotton Bowl game — documentaries on Mr Phelps show Jayhawk clothing, which probably means that he’s not a Wildcats fan.  Which is sad considering that KU is my alma mater…

    That said though, he also protests KU events, so I don’t think it bothers him much where he’s protesting.  Most of us in Kansas don’t like him either.

  • Jerad Hurst

    Not unusual regarding the Cotton Bowl game — documentaries on Mr Phelps show Jayhawk clothing, which probably means that he’s not a Wildcats fan.  Which is sad considering that KU is my alma mater…

    That said though, he also protests KU events, so I don’t think it bothers him much where he’s protesting.  Most of us in Kansas don’t like him either.

  • Jerad Hurst

    Not unusual regarding the Cotton Bowl game — documentaries on Mr Phelps show Jayhawk clothing, which probably means that he’s not a Wildcats fan.  Which is sad considering that KU is my alma mater…

    That said though, he also protests KU events, so I don’t think it bothers him much where he’s protesting.  Most of us in Kansas don’t like him either.

  • HitchsApprentice

    Apparently Ghod is the sickest Bastard in the Universe….. you can tell by the dumb Mother-forkers he attracts………..

  • HitchsApprentice

    Apparently Ghod is the sickest Bastard in the Universe….. you can tell by the dumb Mother-forkers he attracts………..

  • HitchsApprentice

    Apparently Ghod is the sickest Bastard in the Universe….. you can tell by the dumb Mother-forkers he attracts………..

  • HitchsApprentice

    Apparently Ghod is the sickest Bastard in the Universe….. you can tell by the dumb Mother-forkers he attracts………..

  • HitchsApprentice

    Apparently Ghod is the sickest Bastard in the Universe….. you can tell by the dumb Mother-forkers he attracts………..

  • HitchsApprentice

    Apparently Ghod is the sickest Bastard in the Universe….. you can tell by the dumb Mother-forkers he attracts………..

  • HitchsApprentice

    Apparently Ghod is the sickest Bastard in the Universe….. you can tell by the dumb Mother-forkers he attracts………..

  • Charles Black

    I hope one of their (WBC( placards says ”God hates figs” because at least its from the bible. :)  

  • Anonymous

    hmmmm….now they’re getting personal…I’m related to the mayor, and she is a very nice person.

    OTOH, they are really blasting Penn State and their pedophile shielding society….

    I’m very torn!

    • Alex

      Something tells me you can detest exploiters (Penn state sports) without dishing shit out on decent people (Houston mayor). If you are doing both, then you are still despicable. But maybe it’s just me.

  • Alex

    Okay, this is going to sound awful, but they say God loves IEDs of all things… I think this is asking for a very ironic moment.