HOW WE ENABLE THE BULLIES

Back when am1360 KLSD existed I had an exchange, on the air, with the freakish Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper (born October 31, 1957) is the eldest daughter of Fred Phelps, minister of the Westboro Baptist Church.

After questioning her about her stance on gays I turned to the anti-semitism...not only do they hate "fags' but Jews as well. When I pointed out that the majority of what they base their insanity in comes straight out of the Old Testament and the Jewish purity laws in Leviticus and that it seemed to be a contradiction her forked tongue got all tangled.

I wish I had an MP3 of that segment...it was priceless.

I am not sure if she will be here over the weekend but the rest of the sick bastards will be and the majority of places they have targeted are Jewish temples so this isn't just a gay issue.

Later today I contacting the mayor's office to find out if he is going to condemn their visit here and what plans are in place to deal with these domestic terrorists. I may even contact homeland security and ask them why they do not treat these people like Britain's Home Secretary did back in February 2009.

According to this Times Online article:

The Home Secretary has banned two extremist anti-gay preachers from entering Britain, a move that follows a decision to refuse entry to Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim MP.

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who belong to the US Westboro Baptist Church, were planning to come to the UK to protest outside a performance of a youth play called The Laramie Project, which recounts the death of gay university student Matthew Shepard who was killed in Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998.

It was due to be performed at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire, tomorrow.

The pair have been known to picket US soldiers’ funerals, holding up banners with phrases such as "God Hates Fags" because they believe that their deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for America’s tolerance of gays.

Confirming their ban, a UK Border Agency spokesman said: "The Home Secretary has excluded both Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from the UK.

"Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities.

"The Government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms.

"We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.

Question is why they are still allowed to roam around the US targeting gays and Jews?

Some will argue that it is a first amendment right to go out and preach and teach hate in a god's name.

The first amendment says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

No where in there does it say one can go out and encourage hate and violence towards other citizens.

It allows them to practice their twisted religion in their church but when it is an organization, who's main focus is verbally terrorizing gays, Jews and even the funerals of dead US troops, the fine line is crossed in my opinion.

Yet they are tolerated and they will be protected by the police all weekend.

No doubt a barricade of cops will be around the homophobes....just like at gay pride.

Ironic that the police are protecting the perpetrators rather than the victims of the hate.

And that occurs because gay communities and gay folk allow it to be that way. Other groups- especially races would not peacefully counter protest people that have a sole ainm of hurting them.

For example if I got a church together, used a "god" and 2000 plus year old purity laws and texts to justify my insanity and was given tax exempt status with my main focus was to run around African-American events and neighborhoods with "God Hates Niggers" or "God Wants the Coons Lynched" signs I can almost guarantee that my hate-based organization masked as a "church" would lose its tax exempt status and I would be silenced immediately.

And rightfully so...the same Bible was used to justify the inhuman treatment and enslavement of black Americans for well over two centuries until the murder of Emmett Till- a young Chicago black teen visiting in the deep south was brutally murdered for whistling at a white woman...see the last video for more on his murder.

This murder triggered the civil rights movement and brought forth voices with courage like Dr. Martin Lither King.

Black folk would not stand for that these days and would just sing "give peace a chance" to haters and bigots. And neither would I...I still get upset when I hear black kids and non-black people calling each other "nigger".

There would be mass counter protests and unlike what is planned this weekend, the black folk would not be singing songs to these freaks...they would run them out of town with whatever means necessary...even if it meant some of them may be arrested themselves....like in this picture from the 1974 Boston busing riots.

Imagine if blacks from the 1960's saved face and just sang to the people who used the Bible to hate them without fighting back. Would we still have separate drinking fountains and would they still have to sit in the back of the bus?

More than likely if black folk had done what "gay communities" around America have done in response to the hate-based religious zealots..who if they could get away with it would have a lynching of some queers in their god's name.
If you bothered to listen to my radio program from last October on this post where I talked about the ten year anniversary of the crucifixion of Matthew Shepard, the murder of 15-year-old Lawrence Kind and my own experience...being a victim of a hate crime victim in 2000 you will understand why that is so.

When there is a high profile murder we al get on the bandwagon. After a while we erase it from memory. Or worse yet we think that having peaceful protests somehow makes us look better. it doesn't- it makes us look like the whimpering little fagots while allowing people like the Phelps family who also protested at Matthew's funeral to continue to carry on.

The Phelps family, and all the other religious nutbags that parrot their homophobia in God's name, are the very people that justified, in the minds of Matthew's killers, what they did to him.

This is why there still is no laws, either in states or on the federal level that bans organizations that are solely in existence to instill fear and hate, and perhaps justify violence towards other citizens in a god's name, to pose as a church and receive first amendment protection.

I am, by nature an anti-war, anti-violence person but there comes a time when peaceful demonstrations become ineffective and almost a joke.

Whether it is protests against the Phelps clan, Prop 8 or the invasion of Iraq the people who organize the counter protests insist on "peaceful" counter protests.

It seems to me that they are more worried about saving face and looking good in the press rather than doing the right thing.

We lost the battle last November when the organizers of local marches against Prop 8 also insisted on "peaceful" and submissive marches.

Instead of gays being god damn angry- our civil rights and the right to purchase a state issued license was being taken away we were told to not get angry and keep it peaceful. Sorry but when my civil rights are being taken away by a bunch of religious cult members and fanatics I tend to get pissed off not peaceful.

The point is peace is a wonderful concept but when you are dealing with a bully or an abuser it simply doesn't work. For some reason the gay community...in the face of scum like the Phelps freaks have become synonymous with battered wives.

Despite the fact that the husband beats them, they try to make pace at home...for the kid's sake or whatever until they have enough of the abuse or until the worst case scenario occurs.

Here is another story from my childhood...

When I was a teenager I was outed at age 12.

As the years progressed the gay bashing- some physical but most mental and verbal escalated. Like the good fag I just silently took the abuse and held the anger inside.

I swallowed the injustice- the insanity of people hating me because of something that I had no control over. Yes I could have denied what I knew was my reality and hid in a closet playing it straight but being outed it was too late for that.

It got to the point where I was so traumatized and terrified by the bullies and the bigots that I wouldn't even ride the bus to school.

Finally in 11th grade I snapped.

I had enough of being harassed and one guy named Vincent- who secretly had "fooled around with me for months but called me faggot with his friends around- finally helped me find my voice and my balls. I finally had enough of the abuse and didn't peacefully cower anymore.

Right outside the science rooms I beat the hell out of him.

I stood up to the bully.
In this case a less than peaceful reaction was needed. The pacifist routine only empowered the bullies but when I made it clear that I had enough and this "queer" could whip your ass it all but stopped. Suddenly other boys and girls that were gay, came out to me. Sensible hetero students that were not taught to fear or hate gays also became friends and allies.

The moral of the story?

There is a time and place for peaceful protests and a time ti be justifiably angry.

We should have been angry when our civil tights were taken away here in California...wewere nit. We laid down in a flower bed and got fucked without the grease.

We shopuld be angry- both gays and Jews when the Phelps family comes to protest and terrotrize high school kids or temples of worship...instead the plan is to sing songs peavfully.

We should be angry with the state, locak and federal lawmakers who eleven years after Matthew's death have failed to clearly identify fake churches like the Westboro Baptist Church as domestic socual terroriusts and write laws that treat thenm the same way we treat the fundementaklist Islamics who also base their hate-filled ideologu on a twisted version of their dietyu.

We should be angry at ourselves and shamed for being cowards and not being brave like the people who fought in the 60's fir the humane treatment of people with black skin.

Because right now...as you are reading this...somewhere in America a gay teen is being called fagot, beaten up, thrown out iof the house, or considering suicide because people around him, that were taught that God hates Fags, are justifying the abuse and no one gives a damn enough to help or least of all fight back in their name because we are too busty singing and ignoring it until oty happens to us personally.

People like the Phelps and the others in this country that gave been brainwashed are directly responsible fir the deaths of gay, bi, transgendered and lesbian teens who take their own lives rather than suffer the abuse.

That should make you angry and singing a different tune if you attend the protest here in San Diego tomorrow and over the weekend!

I will be at the San Diego High School protest at 2pm tomorrow.

Here is a video segment with the freak Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper



Video on the murder if Emmett Till: