This is crazy. I live in area of the world where protest doesn't really happen. Well two things changed that. The Pope died, and the local university formed a gay straight alliance. Now we got these psychos from Kansas who traveled all the way to Thibodaux, La to protest. Their upset with the Pope for harboring gays (priest who molested boys), and the gay straight alliance. There spouting things like God Bless 9/11 and gays must die. It's actually humorus b/c you have all these people who wouldn't normally support each other out there yelling at these yahoos. It was nice to see the gay/straight alliance president thanking catholics for their support.

pull up a chair, crack open a beer, and enjoy the free show

Rev. Fred Phelps? If it's that fucker, he came to my town too. Moron.

yeah, i think that's it. what a douche bag.

God, how abbhorent. I was born in Houma. It's sad to see those freaks invading. "Gays must die"? I'm sure old JC would agree with that. Effing creeps.

Isn't this nutcase from Topeka? He's the same one who showed up at Mathew Sheppard's burrial and picketed with "God hates fags" signs if memory serves. He's a freak.

And yet gets an insane amount of coverage. We all need to start ignoring these nuts and maybe they'll move back into their mother's basements.

it could be worse, you could live in a town full of these people....

If I believed in an eternal hell, Phelps would be headed for it.

He is not a Christian. He is a racist, homophobic nasty piece of shit trampling on everything Jesus stood for. In fact, the Phelps sort of person is the only sort of person Jesus spoke out against - self-righteous, self-appointed arbitrators of moral judgement

This is the sort of man Phelps is:

Welcome to my world folks. I've grown up confronting the good 'ol rev. He and his abhorrent family just live an hour away in Topeka. And yet when my school created a Gay/Straight Alliance (I'm one of the sponsors) Nary a peep from Fred and friends... not large enough to get press I guess (Fred likes a big stage and the local press doesn't even bother covering him anymore).

Well, it's nice to hear about this sort of thing, at least.

Man, living in that part of this continent must be crazy.

Montreal & Toronto are pretty darn queer positive, (of course there are still some looney homophobes, but at least same sex couple can hold hands in the streets)

As a lifelong Kansan I knew this thread was about Phelps before I even opened it, unfortunately.

I actually wish someone would kill that fuck - & there's very few people in the world I hate enough to say that about. The world would just be better if that whole group was just nuked.

Good God! Tell me that's not Kurt Cobain and Elvis on his chest.


Oh yeah and to quote I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House:

"Fuck Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church"


I've been in contact with those idiots in Topeka when I was working a campaign up there. They were pissed my candidate took money from some pro-choice groups in Wichita. These people make me question the notion of free speech.

Calm down, DiggityDawg. Phelps is pure comic relief. As a native Kansan, I'm practically desensitized to his antics. He's been an active hater since the 50s and nothing's stopped him yet. His beliefs and unprovoked anger is so ridiculous, so over-the-top that nobody but this small band of supporters (we're talking 20 people max) follow or spread his word. And since bad people spreading bad messages makes for good news, his voice gets heard & he gets the camera's attention. He's a bozo and most everyone knows it.

At least he's diverted our attention away from the historical gay marriage vote last week. A landslide conservative win (82-18). This bothers me much, much more than anything Phelps has ever spewed.

while people are considerably conserative (not necessarily republican)down here, we really don't like conflict and hostility. there was actually more people protesting the protestors. Good to see the Catholics and Homosexuals gettin' together.

Why did my '8' morph into a smiley emoticon? Not intentional.

And P6, the midwest ain't that crazy. If anything, it's a fairly benign place to live, and beatiful to boot. The politics of the Great Plains hasn't changed much ever, so I don't know what you're so shocked about.

82-18? Whoa...

Or thereabouts ...

It was ugly. I truly love the midwest, but sometimes my state shames me (evolution-science, gay marriage, KC Royals, Ultimate Fakebook).

*AHEM* Bloody Kansas anyone? That crazy bitch Ida Tarbell? Radical Unions? Well, I guess the place has always been CRAZY, but the type of crazy they're trafficking in has taken a serious 180 from left to right.

Dude - join the rest of us Kansas ex-pats in New York. Its queer-licious out here.

And seriously. Kansas just loves to embrace anything that pisses of the rest of the states. Kansans have always been radicals, just now the radicalism that is in vogue doesn't line up with my personal preferences.

haha
and i'll raise you The Urge

Katie, The urge were a St. Louis Missouri band thank you...

And if anyone wants to really get a good read on the populism of Kansas might I suggest checking out from you library, "What's The Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America"
by Thomas Frank
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 8?v=glance

a damn good read for anybody - even Blue staters