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(Casper, Wyoming) The City of Casper, Wyoming has rejected an offer from anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps to erect a statue dedicated to Matthew Shepard.
Phelps, who runs the GodHatesFags website, first gained national attention when he and his followers demonstrated at the funeral of Matthew Shepard in Casper in 1998.
Shepard was murdered in a homophobic attack by two men.
Phelps offered to build the statue in Casper's Monument Plaza which was dedicated earlier this month. The park features monuments to Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Ten Commandments and the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
Phelps' proposed a monument that would have been 5 to 6 feet tall and made of marble or granite. It would have had a bronze plaque bearing the image of Shepard and have an inscription reading "MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."
"Casper's historic monument plaza is a collection of documents that are the underpinning and foundation of our law," Mayor Kate Sarosy wrote in a reply to Phelps.
"Your monument is simply religious in character, based on your personal religious beliefs regarding Matthew Shepard, and bears no historical significance to the foundation of the law for our country. As such, the city cannot place your monument on city property without violating the establishment clause of the United States Constitution."
Phelps attempted to get the city to approve a similar statue in 2003 and also was rejected.
Phelps and his followers have not ruled out taking the city to court.
The city's rebuff is the second setback this month for Phelps and his Topeka Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church.
On July 6, his daughter was been formally charged with negligent child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, flag mutilation and disturbing the peace over an anti-gay protest at the funeral of a soldier last month in Bellevue, Nebraska.
The charges against Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, stem from a June incident involving her 10-year-old son who stomped on an American flag during a protest at the funeral of a National Guardsman killed in Iraq. (story)
Phelps-Roper and about a dozen other members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas carried signs denouncing homosexuality and stating that military deaths in Iraq were God's retribution for America being permissive of gays.
6 comments:
Don, I find this anti-religion rhetoric almost as appalling as what is described.
Don't give it the attention you are. Look to the Middle East and think about the Israeli's in their occupation of Palestinian territories and the wall.
Don't waste your time on the trailer trash.
Dear Don, I was able to read until the proposed inscrption...
Enough! I thought I would throw up.
Too much for me.
And I believe Leone is right...
Leone and Ric:
Thank you so much for the comments and I do agree that Fred Phelps is "trailer trash", but I don't think this is anti-religion rhetoric as much as it is about the use of religion by homophobes to spread hatred; using select quotes from the bible as a reason to justify their personal animosity towards a select group of individuals.
Part of my "mission statement" in writing this blog is to expose bigotry and hypocrisy in the religious and political arenas.
As unpleasant as this may seem to some, my hope is that it will serve as an "eye opener" to others who are otherwise unaware of the incredible amount of hatred and hypocrisy going on in this country.
It so much easier to focus on blogs that solely feature "eye candy" and escape the reality of life around us..... as unpleasant as it might be!
RESPECTFULLY~
DON
typically i say this about people i think are totally theological wrong, "i'm sure they'll be suprised when they get to heaven." phelps might be the one person in the history of the world for whom i would say, "i think he'll be suprised when he gets to hell."
he is evil and as a person of faith i pray for those he leads that they might come to see his evil and repent of it.
For what it's worth, I think it's important to know your enemy, and Phelps is definitely an enemy. As long as there are people who consider it the work of their lives and an improvement on the world to shove all LGBTs back in the closet, LGBTs have to think about them sometimes, unfortunately. What I consider even viler about him and his clan is that he makes other people who make their livings and reputations at our expense, like James Dobson, look more moderate and "loving" by comparison. You see, *they* don't loathe gays; Phelps does! The fact that they teach children to feel this way is also sick-making.
Want something comforting, though? Not all his kids and grandkids will be growing up to feel as he does. Look up the name "Dortha Bird" (that's one of his daughters, who has rejected the Phelps name), and read this!
Dear Don!
I never meant to imply anything whatsoever about what you've been doing here! I fully agree with the content of your answer to both of us.
My own problem has to do with the kind of religious education I was given: in this country no one would ever dare quoting from the Bible in such an evil context, i.e., people would take that as a diabolic, heretic use from the Scriptures. Even in cases of known suicide, people get proper funerals, and no priest dares refusing it to anyone.
You may call this behaviour hypocritical, and I agree with you. But it's also compassionate. And that's definitely far more important to me.
If I wrote - maybe I shouldn't... - I was about to throw up, it was not because of your post, needless to say, but because of a monster who wants to build a statue in the name of pure evilness and - moreover - quoting the Bible!!! Where are you living, guys?! The Bible is quite respectful, but it's a LITERARY work written by MEN! There are huge contradictions inside it, as you'll find in so many other collective literary works! What's the big thing about the Bible?! Is everyone gone insane and lost all perspective of reality???
Sorry, but I find all this quite hard to understand, specially and mostly because it comes from the country it comes from...
(My apologies if I got carried away...)
Hugs, dear Don! Didn't mean to upset you.)
:-)
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