News :: GLBT
Fall From Grace :: "God Hates Fags" Crew Spooks Northeast by Sam Baltrusis
EDGE ContributorThursday Nov 1, 2007Who needs Halloween when you have a pack of real-life, venom-spewing demons raising hell in New England this weekend?
Rev. Fred Phelps and his vitriolic, anti-gay group of supporters will be in Massachusetts on Saturday, Nov. 3 to protest the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School production of "The Laramie Project." And on Sunday, the Kansas-based crew plans to picket outside of the Trinity Church Boston in Copley Square.
The protests punctuate an already topsy-turvy week for Phelps.
On Halloween, a federal jury awarded the father of a fallen Marine $2.9 million in damages after finding the church and three of its leaders liable for invasion of privacy and intent to inflict emotional distress for picketing the Marine’s funeral in 2006.
And on Thursday, Nov. 1, Phelps’ family awoke to a pair of messages--reportedly saying "God Hates The Phelps" and "God Hates Intolerance"--spray painted to a sign and a fence on the grounds of their Kansas church.
However, the backlash hasn’t quelled concerns from Bay State leaders.
The principal of Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Steve Donovan, says administrators met several times this past week to prepare for Phelps’ planned verbal attack on the high school’s version "The Laramie Project." The play chronicles the reaction to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, WY.
"First, we’re very much in support of the production," he confirms, adding that he’s asked for backup support from the Acton police. "Our main goal is to make sure those who attend the show feel safe."
Patricia Hurley, director of communications with Trinity, says the church learned a few valuable lessons when Phelps’ followers set up a similar protest outside of the Copley Square parish five years ago.
"As evil and vile as their message is, our experience with them is that they’re fairly well behaved," she remarks. "We don’t want to give them any reason to act up or do anything that will exacerbate the situation. We refuse to react to their bait."
Hurley, who turned down an offer from the Guardian Angels to help with security, says Trinity combats the "God Hates Fags" signage by promoting acceptance and embracing non-violence.
"We try our best to repudiate their message," she emotes. "Our clergy will be on the steps ushering parishioners in and out. We also have a sign outside of our parish that reads ’God Is Love.’"
"For me, it’s the same reason why people have Adolf Hitler’s ’Mein Kampf’ on their bookshelves. We all know that he’s a horrible man. But we need to understand how Hitler’s mind worked as we do with Phelps." K. Ryan Jones, the Kansas-based filmmaker of a soon-to-be-released documentary that closely follows Phelps and his Westboro clan called "Fall From Grace," says he’s seen people unsuccessfully try to debate or get into a shouting match with the protestors.
"Many people engage them verbally and sometimes physically," he comments. "In Delaware, they were pelted with rocks and other such things and driven away from where they were picketing. People think they are going to somehow outsmart them in a verbal debate. It just won’t ever happen because they’ve heard it all before and they have twisted the scripture to support whatever they do."
When asked how he would handle the string of planned protests in Massachusetts, Jones shoots back.
"It’s a tricky question but I would recommend to try to ignore them," he advises. "Although, it seems contradictory because I spent so much time with them and have given them so much attention."
The documentary, airing in part on ABC’s "20/20" on Friday, Nov. 16 and in its entirety on Showtime, tries to objectively deconstruct the charismatic leader’s lowbrow approach to spreading his anti-gay, anti-military venom.
"At the pickets there is a certain energy that is pretty overwhelming, but the church services, and Fred’s sermons specifically, are exponentially worse than any picket I attended," he says.
However, Jones believes that Phelps is his own worst enemy.
"He rants for about 45 minutes straight and he also liked to make eye contact with the camera," Jones recalls. "I think he thought it was somehow effective, but it was really frightening to look into the viewfinder and see those eyes locking indirectly with yours."
After spending a year following Phelps, Jones says it doesn’t lessen the impact of Westboro’s propaganda machine.
"For me, it’s the same reason why people have Adolf Hitler’s ’Mein Kampf’ on their bookshelves," he concludes. "We all know that he’s a horrible man. But we need to understand how Hitler’s mind worked as we do with Phelps."
ON THE WEB:
www.fallfromgracemovie.net
www.trinitychurchboston.org
www.ab.mec.edu/abrhs/
Sam Baltrusis has worked for WHDH-TV, CW56, MTV, VH1, Seventeen, Newsweek and as a regional stringer for The New York Times. He’s currently a full-time freelance editor/writer based in Boston. Check out his blog at loadedgunboston.blogspot.com.
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