'Most-hated,' anti-gay preacher once fought for civil rights

[alienlovechild 75]

He is the leader of "America's most hated family," a gaunt, craggy-faced preacher who displays "God Hates Fags" signs at the funerals of American troops, gay men and AIDS victims.

For at least 12 years, the Rev. Fred Phelps has led his Topeka, Kansas, church on a cross-country crusade against gays and lesbians. That crusade ignited a legal battle that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

But there is another Phelps that few know. He was a "brilliant" civil rights attorney in the 1960s who would take on racial discrimination cases that no other lawyers would touch, say longtime African-American civic leaders in Topeka.

He fought for the rights of blacks, they say, with the same passion he now reserves for the condemnation of gays.

"I don't know him anymore," says Joe Douglas Jr., an African-American activist in Topeka who became the city's first minority fire department chief.

"I see him out there, and I hear the venom that comes out of his mouth. If you had asked me in the '60s if he would do this, I would have said never."

The Rev. Ben Scott, president of the NAACP's Topeka branch, says he never heard Phelps talk about homosexuals during his work as a civil rights attorney.

"I didn't even know he was a preacher," Scott says.

If you had asked me in the '60s if he would do this, I would have said never.

--Joe Douglas Jr. on Fred Phelps

Phelps declined to talk with CNN about his civil rights work or his ministry. But his daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, says there is no contradiction between her father's civil rights work and his ministry. That's because there's a distinct difference between gay people and black people, she says.

"You're born black. It's something you can't change even if you're Michael Jackson," she says. "God never said it was an abomination to be black."

Most of the members of Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church are members of his large family. Phelps has 13 children; 11 are attorneys. One son, Nate Phelps, is estranged from his father, and from organized religion. He is an atheist.

His father first attracted national headlines in 1998 at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student. Shepard was tortured and murdered for being gay. Fred Phelps and his church picketed Shepard's funeral, carrying signs that said Shepard was rotting in hell.

In 2006, members of Phelps' church appeared at the funeral of an American Marine killed in Iraq carrying signs reading "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and shouting at mourners.

Phelps' church claims the deaths are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The family of the Marine sued Phelps' church the next year, alleging invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. The case went to trial and a jury awarded the family $2.9 million in compensatory damages plus $8 million in punitive damages, which were reduced to $5 million.

That verdict, however, was reversed when Phelps' church appealed. In March, Supreme Court justices accepted an appeal from the father of the fallen Marine. The court is being asked to address how far entities such as cemeteries and churches can go in restricting demonstrators' right to free speech.

Phelps' 'brilliant' civil rights career

By the time Phelps moved to Topeka in 1954, it had become the launching ground for the modern civil rights movement. That was the year the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in public schools with its historic Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision.

Jack Alexander, a Topeka native and civil rights activist, says the Brown decision opened the door for discrimination suits. Phelps would take cases in the 1960s that other lawyers, black and white, wouldn't touch, he says.

"Back in that era, most black attorneys were busy trying to make a living," says Alexander, who became the first black elected in the city of Topeka, as a member of the Topeka City Commission.

"They couldn't take those cases on the chance they wouldn't get paid. But Fred was taking those cases."

Phelps was so successful that he became the first lawyer blacks would call when they thought they were being discriminated against, says the NAACP's Scott.

"Most blacks -- that's who they went to," Scott says. "I don't know if he was cheaper or if he had that stick-to-it-ness, but Fred didn't lose many back then."

Douglas, the Topeka civil rights activist and former fire chief, says Phelps was such a "brilliant attorney" that he made enemies.

"He made a fortune on all those cases," Douglas says. "All the businesses hated him because he was so successful. I think if they discriminated against Martians, he would have done those cases. He could make money."

Douglas says he had no clue then about Phelps' attitude toward gays and lesbians.

"He didn't even talk about that," Douglas says. "As long as I've known him, I never heard him discuss it, but now it's his whole life."

Having people hate them is nothing new for Phelps and his family, she says. People shot out their windows and threatened her father because he stood up for blacks in Kansas.

Phelps was disbarred in 1979 by the Kansas Supreme Court after he became the subject of a complaint alleging witness badgering. The court wrote: "The seriousness of the present case coupled with his previous record leads this court to the conclusion that respondent has little regard for the ethics of his profession."

Phelps-Roper contends her father was disbarred in Kansas state court for standing up for blacks.

Phelps' critics now despise him for another reason -- his anti-gay activism.

It has earned him so much notoriety that he is internationally known. In 2007, the BBC produced a documentary on Phelps and his church entitled "The Most Hated Family in America."

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremist organizations, has classified Phelps' church as a hate group. It calls Phelps America's most notorious anti-gay activist.

Nate Phelps, the estranged son, says his father held racist attitudes even during his work as a civil rights attorney.

He says his father didn't believe blacks were equal to whites, and often insulted blacks out of earshot.

"They would come into his office and after they left, he would talk about how stupid they were and call them dumb niggers," Phelps says.

But Phelps-Roper, Nathan's sister, says their father was no racist. She says that Potok doesn't know her father. And she calls her brother Nathan a "rebel of God." She says her father didn't use racist language and Nathan wouldn't have been in a position to know.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/05/hate.preacher/?hpt=C2

[Craneman 2]

Are you saying you agree with, The "Westboro Baptist Church"

You need to investigate these people further.

I do not know what this totally bigoted organization has to do with this forum.

Go to www.godhatesamerica.com.

I have been around these slugs for years, snake manure is the first thing that comes to mind.

He is the leader of "America's most hated family," a gaunt, craggy-faced preacher who displays "God Hates Fags" signs at the funerals of American troops, gay men and AIDS victims.

For at least 12 years, the Rev. Fred Phelps has led his Topeka, Kansas, church on a cross-country crusade against gays and lesbians. That crusade ignited a legal battle that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

But there is another Phelps that few know. He was a "brilliant" civil rights attorney in the 1960s who would take on racial discrimination cases that no other lawyers would touch, say longtime African-American civic leaders in Topeka.

He fought for the rights of blacks, they say, with the same passion he now reserves for the condemnation of gays.

"I don't know him anymore," says Joe Douglas Jr., an African-American activist in Topeka who became the city's first minority fire department chief.

"I see him out there, and I hear the venom that comes out of his mouth. If you had asked me in the '60s if he would do this, I would have said never."

The Rev. Ben Scott, president of the NAACP's Topeka branch, says he never heard Phelps talk about homosexuals during his work as a civil rights attorney.

"I didn't even know he was a preacher," Scott says.

If you had asked me in the '60s if he would do this, I would have said never.

--Joe Douglas Jr. on Fred Phelps

Phelps declined to talk with CNN about his civil rights work or his ministry. But his daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, says there is no contradiction between her father's civil rights work and his ministry. That's because there's a distinct difference between gay people and black people, she says.

"You're born black. It's something you can't change even if you're Michael Jackson," she says. "God never said it was an abomination to be black."

Most of the members of Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church are members of his large family. Phelps has 13 children; 11 are attorneys. One son, Nate Phelps, is estranged from his father, and from organized religion. He is an atheist.

His father first attracted national headlines in 1998 at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student. Shepard was tortured and murdered for being gay. Fred Phelps and his church picketed Shepard's funeral, carrying signs that said Shepard was rotting in hell.

In 2006, members of Phelps' church appeared at the funeral of an American Marine killed in Iraq carrying signs reading "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and shouting at mourners.

Phelps' church claims the deaths are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The family of the Marine sued Phelps' church the next year, alleging invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. The case went to trial and a jury awarded the family $2.9 million in compensatory damages plus $8 million in punitive damages, which were reduced to $5 million.

That verdict, however, was reversed when Phelps' church appealed. In March, Supreme Court justices accepted an appeal from the father of the fallen Marine. The court is being asked to address how far entities such as cemeteries and churches can go in restricting demonstrators' right to free speech.

Phelps' 'brilliant' civil rights career

By the time Phelps moved to Topeka in 1954, it had become the launching ground for the modern civil rights movement. That was the year the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in public schools with its historic Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision.

Jack Alexander, a Topeka native and civil rights activist, says the Brown decision opened the door for discrimination suits. Phelps would take cases in the 1960s that other lawyers, black and white, wouldn't touch, he says.

"Back in that era, most black attorneys were busy trying to make a living," says Alexander, who became the first black elected in the city of Topeka, as a member of the Topeka City Commission.

"They couldn't take those cases on the chance they wouldn't get paid. But Fred was taking those cases."

Phelps was so successful that he became the first lawyer blacks would call when they thought they were being discriminated against, says the NAACP's Scott.

"Most blacks -- that's who they went to," Scott says. "I don't know if he was cheaper or if he had that stick-to-it-ness, but Fred didn't lose many back then."

Douglas, the Topeka civil rights activist and former fire chief, says Phelps was such a "brilliant attorney" that he made enemies.

"He made a fortune on all those cases," Douglas says. "All the businesses hated him because he was so successful. I think if they discriminated against Martians, he would have done those cases. He could make money."

Douglas says he had no clue then about Phelps' attitude toward gays and lesbians.

"He didn't even talk about that," Douglas says. "As long as I've known him, I never heard him discuss it, but now it's his whole life."

Having people hate them is nothing new for Phelps and his family, she says. People shot out their windows and threatened her father because he stood up for blacks in Kansas.

Phelps was disbarred in 1979 by the Kansas Supreme Court after he became the subject of a complaint alleging witness badgering. The court wrote: "The seriousness of the present case coupled with his previous record leads this court to the conclusion that respondent has little regard for the ethics of his profession."

Phelps-Roper contends her father was disbarred in Kansas state court for standing up for blacks.

Phelps' critics now despise him for another reason -- his anti-gay activism.

It has earned him so much notoriety that he is internationally known. In 2007, the BBC produced a documentary on Phelps and his church entitled "The Most Hated Family in America."

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremist organizations, has classified Phelps' church as a hate group. It calls Phelps America's most notorious anti-gay activist.

Nate Phelps, the estranged son, says his father held racist attitudes even during his work as a civil rights attorney.

He says his father didn't believe blacks were equal to whites, and often insulted blacks out of earshot.

"They would come into his office and after they left, he would talk about how stupid they were and call them dumb niggers," Phelps says.

But Phelps-Roper, Nathan's sister, says their father was no racist. She says that Potok doesn't know her father. And she calls her brother Nathan a "rebel of God." She says her father didn't use racist language and Nathan wouldn't have been in a position to know.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/05/hate.preacher/?hpt=C2

[Craneman 2]

Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. (born November 13, 1929) is an American pastor who is the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas, which is notorious for its anti-gay protests, claiming that most natural disasters and terrorist attacks are God's punishment for a society that tolerates homosexuality.[1][2] The church is monitored as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center.[3][4][5] Phelps is a disbarred lawyer, founder of the Phelps Chartered law firm, a past civil rights activist in Kansas, and a Democrat who has five times been a candidate for political office in Kansas Democratic Party primaries. He and his daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, are banned from entering the United Kingdom.[6]

He is known for the slogans that he and his ministry use against people he deems sinful, including "God Hates Fags", "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", "America Is Doomed" and "Priests Rape Boys". He claims that God will punish homosexuals as well as various public figures such as Bill O'Reilly, Coretta Scott King, Ronald Reagan, Howard Dean, and anyone else whom his church considers "**-enablers".[7][8]

Phelps and his followers frequently picket various events, especially military funerals, gay pride gatherings, high-profile political gatherings, performances of The Laramie Project, and even Christian gatherings and concerts with which he has no affiliation, arguing it is their sacred duty to warn others of God's anger. When criticized, Phelps' followers say they are protected in doing so by the First Amendment.[9][10] In response to Phelps' protests at military funerals, President George W. Bush signed the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act into law in May 2006,[11] and, in April 2007, Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius signed into law a bill establishing a 150-foot no-picketing buffer zone around funerals.[12]

The group is built around a core of anti-homosexual theology, with many of their activities stemming from the slogan "God hates fags", which is also the name of the group's main website. Gay rights activists, as well as Christians of virtually every denomination, have denounced him as a producer of anti-gay propaganda and violence-inspiring hate speech.[13] Phelps says that he believes that homosexuality and social acceptance of it have doomed most of the world to eternal damnation

[PhiLandShiR 18]

I have been around these slugs for years, snake manure is the first thing that comes to mind.

Wow, snake manure.... thats pretty low....

[alienlovechild 75]

Are you saying you agree with, The "Westboro Baptist Church"

You need to investigate these people further.

I do not know what this totally bigoted organization has to do with this forum.

Go to www.godhatesamerica.com.

You need to investigate a basic literacy course.

I didn't write the article nor did I express any support for Phelps. I just thought it was an interesting article and it was an aspect of Phelps I hadn't heard about before.

This is the Off Topic forum so by definintion it doesn't have to do anything with visa related issues.