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Anti-gay group from Kansas plans protest of WCU play
By Carey King
The "unique picketing ministry" of a Kansas-based church intends to create a stir at the entrance of Western Carolina University later this month.
According to press releases and the Web site of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, the anti-gay group plans to picket performances of The Laramie Project Friday and Saturday, April 23 and 24.
The WCU community first learned of the planned demonstration after Westboro members sent several faxes to various university offices, said Bob Caruso, vice chancellor for student affairs.
"We're not sure whether they combed the Web for The Laramie Project name or what," Caruso said.
The play tells the story of the residents of Laramie, Wyo., and their reaction to the fatal beating of gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998.
Certain areas of the university can be used for protests, and since Westboro has made application to use the space, it will be granted, Caruso said.
Westboro gained international attention six years ago, when its members picketed at Shepard's funeral, carrying signs such as "God Hates Fags," "AIDS Cures Fags," and "Thank God for AIDS," according to the group's Web site.
During the past 13 years, Westboro has led over 22,000 anti-gay demonstrations across the nation and around the world. While the church advertises weekly Sunday services at its home base in Kansas, its picketing schedule keeps members in constant travel. In the month before coming to Western North Carolina, Westboro members will have staged protests in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New York, Idaho and Oregon, their Web site says.
The church was founded in 1955 by the Rev. Fred Phelps and classifies itself as an Old School, or Primitive, Baptist church. Many members of the congregation are Phelps' family members, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Now in his 70s, Phelps says that other ministers tell lies when they preach that "God loves everyone" and "Jesus died for everyone," states the church's Web site.
"Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, Northern and Southern Baptist, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, etc. have all departed from God. Most well-known preachers (Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, etc.) have departed from God, and disassociated themselves with pure Gospel preaching," Phelps wrote.
On Sunday, April 25, the ministry will continue its protest at several Asheville churches, including First Baptist, Cathedral of All Souls, St. Mark's Lutheran, Central United Methodist, St. Eugene's Catholic and Grace Covenant Presbyterian.
While the group regularly pickets the gay community, Phelps' sermons also target Christians, Jews, African-Americans, and American society. The church often maligns people it mistakenly claims are gay or those it believes to be encouraging homosexuality, says the ADL.
Ordained in 1947 as a Baptist minister, Phelps studied at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., but never graduated. He earned a law degree in1964, but was barred from Kansas courts in 1979 for lack of professional ethics and from federal courts in 1989 for making false accusations against nine federal judges, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
One Sylva resident has already had a run-in with the Westboro church: While in law school in Topeka in 1994, Sylva attorney Eric Ridenour worked as a limousine driver and met Phelps when he chauffeured a party of passengers to a restaurant said to be owned by two lesbians.
"Westboro was out there picketing, and when I opened the doors, Phelps said ‘Look at that pimp in the pimp wagon,'" Ridenour said.
After protesters shouted more names at Ridenour and the passengers, he went to confront Phelps, but was surrounded by church members carrying signs, he said.
"It didn't take me long to come to my senses," Ridenour said.
In the course of his law studies, Ridenour dug up a Kansas statute against trying to entice a fight and called the district attorney.
When taken to trial, Phelps was convicted of using abusive language - the first time he had been convicted of any crimes since the Westboro church began its picketing mission. A court of appeals later upheld the decision.
"When we were in court, he didn't remember the incident at all, because it was an everyday thing for him," Ridenour said.
Since the Westboro group began its protests, the Kansas legislature has passed laws regulating funeral picketing and penalizing stalking, and amended a statute outlawing telephone harassment, reports the SPLC.
Westboro members are known for spreading their message through faxed fliers and news releases to media sources, plus two Web sites, www.godhatesfags.com and www.godhatesamerica.com, says the ADL.
WCU theater students are currently in Laramie Project rehearsals, and have been briefed by Western's police department about the Westboro group's intentions.
"As a former lawyer, Phelps wants someone to throw the first tomato at him so he can sue whoever he can for violation of his free speech rights," said WCU professor Steve Ayers.
Western plans to not engage the protesters, so "they won't be distracted from their mission, and we won't be distracted from ours," Caruso said.
Student performer Dana Anglin gave this advice: "I think the best thing would be for people to not pay any attention to him, because that's what he wants."
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