Fred Phelps and his family present a permanent conundrum -- do they
deserve the oxygen of publicity -- if not, how can the world learn of
their misguided mission? While it's hard not to laugh at their comical
hatred of all things gay, it can't be denied that their negative energy
must have an effect on the queer lake of conciousness.
Nobody sings the praises of being gay with quite the power that Phelps
denounces the community, unless perhaps you count Sir Elton John as the
ultimate counterbalance. The question is: can the Rocket Man in fancy
dress trump Fred Phelps picketing the funerals of dead soldiers? The
jury is still out on that one.
Seemingly oblivious to rhyme or reason Phelps has taken his
God-fuelled fury to Sweden, where the royal family is yet another
focus of his madness.
Sweden caught the imagination of Fred Phelps for having the temerity to
prosecute a controversial minister, Ake Green, for inciting hatred of
homosexuals in an anti-gay sermon.
"All faggots are doomed to spend eternity in hell," said Phelps. "All
you Swede gay sissies and your Swedish homo king and his family are
the same way."
This whole agenda started two years ago and now the Swedish royal
family have had enough of his homophobic badgering. Unpleasant faxes
keep spewing from their fax machine with speed and force of a plague
of locusts.
"There have been strange faxes containing all sorts of terms of abuse,"
royal spokesperson Nina Eldh told the (Swedish) English language daily 'The
Local', before she turned to the net newsgroups for help.
Phelps' issue with the Swedes is so insanely entrenched that he
regularly pickets a local hardware store in Topeka, Kansas due to the
fact that they sell Swedish vacuum cleaners. (Years ago, when Phelps
was raising money to send himself to Bible school, he sold vacuum
cleaners and candy door-to-door).
In addition to his http://godhatesfags.com website, Phelps has created a
http://godhatessweden.com site. If his insults weren't so serious
they'd be very funny, and almost qualify for our 'Last Laugh! periodic
feature:
Here is a recent commentary by Reverend Phelps:
"The same Bible passage (Lev. 18) that condemns homosexuality also
condemns bestiality and incest. The popinjay King of Sweden -- a moral
titmouse in the plumage of a peacock, who lives lavishly with his
lazy, horny faggoty kids on Sweden's largest social security check --
is King of Fags, King of Zoophiles, King of Pedophiles, and King of
Incestuous Perverts, the all-time Faggot Emeritus."
The royal family -- specifically Nina Eldh, their loyal employee --
has tried to have the Web sites shut down, and his bank of fax
machines disconnected, but Swedish courts have said they are helpless
because the sites are on US servers. The over-riding concern is the
USA's First Amendment clause (which Sweden has said they are 'tempted'
to overlook in this instance [since they afford the same to their own
citizens as well]), but also the very difficult problem for
Swedish telcos and ISPs in 'isolating' and banning Phelp's IP address
(which frequently changes) from reaching Swedish citizens. They've
tried, but been unsuccessful in shaking him. Their communications with
American ISPs and telcos have not helped. Like spam-scam, Phelps has
his ways of getting through and flooding their e-systems each day.
Due to these 'technicalities', Phelps will be able to continue taunting
the nation of Sweden with his unique charm and wit:
"You jackass faggot asshole Swedes just don't get it. Once you have
laws to chill and punish Bible preaching, we don't give a rat's tutu
whatever else you do or say. You are drippings from the Devil's own
penis -- a veritable sperm bank for Satan's queers. Goddamn Faggots to
the left! Faggots to the right! Fucking Faggots everywhere! You goddamn
Faggots! God will punish every goddamn one of you in Hell, you'll
burn, every goddamn one of you; you know its true, goddamnit!"
(Phelps, in a recent fax communication to the royal family.)
The royal family and the Swedish government have expressed their
concern to the US Ambassador but were told that Reverend Phelps is
protected by the First Amendment. While Phelps could be prosecuted
under Sweden's existing hate crime law, until he enters the country,
he cannot be charged at this time.
This is the reason Nina made an appeal to Digest readers. She thought
perhaps there was some creative solution which had been overlooked
thus far.
One recent quote from Fred described her as "a hellish zeitgeist in
which sodomite abominations thrive ..."
_Very important_ facts to remember:
1) The church has its own law firm, 'Phelps Chartered'. It does not
hesitate to use its resources to sue any/everyone with whom it
disagrees. See
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=231&printable=1
as an example, also see
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=424
(Try googling for 'Phelps Chartered' and follow the various
links. They have over the years filed thousands of lawsuits against
the city itself; everytime one of its members gets sued. Fred
himself is disbarred, other members have not been disbarred yet.)
2) Everytime they 'somehow find out' a phone or fax number it gets
added to the list of daily (or more frequent) faxes. And you have
already seen examples of what they send out. They have a bank of
fax machines in their offices.
3) Their phones, fax lines, computers are all set up to refuse access
to any information-withheld phone number. So just trying to be
anonymous won't work. Really bury your 'phone number', etc.
4) They can tie you up with floods of litigation, and other nonsense;
they follow the Bible quite _literally_ and are not respectful of
nor interested in reasoned, courteous commentary.
5) If you are not a faggot when you approach them, you will be
before you leave. They'll assure it.
City of Topeka, the US Government, its ambassadors etc have all tried
reasoning with Phelps to no avail. The Westboro Baptist Church, the
Phelps Chartered Law Firm and about 50-60 members of the 'church' all
live in a compound -- a large city block of Topeka. City of Topeka
police officers are under orders 'do not discuss Phelps for any
reason'. Obviously, arrest as needed WITH VERY OBVIOUS, VISABLE reasons
only. They, and the US Government are assuming the day will eventually
come when Phelps and his cult will decide to 'act out Waco or Jonestown'.
In a complex not far from downtown Topeka, the extended Phelps family
lives and disseminates its hatred -- a tall wall connects Westboro
Baptist Church to the five houses it owns on this block bordering 12th
Street, and a huge upside-down American flag dominates the sky.
Inside the church is a large office that serves as headquarters of a
nationwide fax harassment campaign, complete with manila research
folders, stacks of archives and a huge, industrial-strength facsimile
machine.
Now, with these lengthy instructions in mind, if you feel Fred or the
other funeral protestors/pickets should be counseled, try these phone
numbers: 785-273-0325 785-273-0338 785-273-9228 (fax machine) but
do not say you were not warned!
PAT
Patrick Townson (ptownson@cableone.net)