Group Comes Bearing Message of Hate

That's the headline from a story in the Monterey County, California, newspaper, The Herald that looks at the activities of Fred Phelps and his hate merchant church members. One can only hope that Phelps and representatives of his alleged "church" visit as many locales in Califrnia as possible. While it is true that the Christianists will be looking for every opportunity to depict gay and lesbian couples getting married in California as perverts and freaks, Phelps and his clan will do all they can to catch media coverage to stroke their perverse egos. The picture they present is one that most rational conservatives would not want to emulate. Here are some highlights of how this anti-gay group is being depicited in the California media:

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Members of a virulently anti-gay church group from Kansas plan to stage a protest at 1 p.m. on Pacific and East Franklin streets in Monterey today, the church announced. To call the members of the Westboro Baptist Church "controversial" is like calling the South Pole's weather "brisk" — about as a gross an understatement as anyone can come up with.

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In an interview Sunday — one day before the Topeka group was set to picket in Monterey — nary a sentence came out of church attorney Shirley Phelps-Roper's mouth without including the "f-word" — which in this case is a pejorative term for homosexuals. Phelps-Roper is the daughter of the church's founder, Pastor Fred Phelps, who maintains that pretty much all the tragedy that befalls anyone is because of America and its "fag lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth."

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Now, the church is coming to the Peninsula to protest "the evil U.S. military at the Presidio of Monterey," the group's fliers declare. "God hates the present-day, sodomite-controlled United States military establishment ... God hates the U.S.A."

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One Monterey Peninsula College student said she and others had debated whether to bring attention to Phelps' group by showing up for a counter-protest. "I know that the counter-protest and the media involvement is giving (the) Rev. Phelps the attention that he craves," said Shelley Kolonics, 20. "But it also just feels completely wrong not to do anything."

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She and others who passed word of mouth about the church's appearance in Monterey plan to show up around 12:30 p.m. today to check in with police. Kolonics said police told her that no more than 25 people can gather in each group at a time. "We may have to rotate," she said. Her informal group is made up of individuals who, she said, felt they had to raise a countering voice to the Phelps' messages of hate. "Our message is basically the opposite of theirs. God doesn't hate our military and God doesn't hate us," she said. "God doesn't hate gays in America."