SO, Fred Phelps is dead. But how to acknowledge the death of someone who was so notorious for the way in which he celebrated the deaths of gay people, among others?
For those who don’t know, Phelps led the Westboro Baptist Church for decades. Most of its members were his own relatives. Strangely enough, he was a lawyer who had once worked to expand the rights of African-Americans. But as his religious convictions shifted, he became obsessed with homosexuality, something he saw as a malevolent force that was ruining things for everyone. He also believed in a vengeful, wrathful God who hated sinners and relished their destruction.
So he and his followers began picketing the funerals of gay people, sporting their signature “god hates fags” signs, among other choice slogans. He also launched a website called “Godhatesfags.com.” They and their signs were at the funerals of Sonny Bono, Bewitched star Dick Sargent, and Matthew Shepard. At the latter, Shepard’s parents and friends were met with a placard that read “Matthew Shepard burns in Hell.”
I interviewed Phelps in 1999 when he vowed to visit Canada to protest a Supreme Court decision that expanded gay rights. He was planning a stopover in Montreal to coincide with our annual pride event, and someone from the Montreal Mirror suggested that I try to get an interview with him. I didn’t know what good an interview would do, as Phelps seemed clearly to be out of his mind. I decided to interview him as an insider—as a sympathetic Christian activist seeking his advice. After a phone call with one of his sons, in which I expressed my disgust over the “moral cesspit Canada had become,” I was granted a direct line to Fred Phelps himself. Our conversation went like this:
Matthew Hays: My name is Matthew Hays. I’m with a new organization called Christians Concerned for Canadian Families. I understand you’re coming up to this country to protest what’s been done in the name of homosexual rights.
Fred Phelps: They’re going to have a parade in Montreal, you know, on August 1st.
MH You mean one of those parades where all those freaks come out and dance?
FP: Yeah. That’s what we’re going to picket. Then on the 2nd we’re going down to that Supreme Court building and picket there.
MH: And you’re going to burn a Canadian flag?
FP: Yes.
MH: Our group is very concerned about cultural influences on youth. All these freaks in the media! Cher is coming this Wednesday, and we’re going to protest her concert appearance. She’s got a lesbian daughter and says being homosexual is fine.
FP: We have picketed that lesbian daughter on three different occasions and debated with her and she’s not very smart. Chastity’s her name.
MH: What did you think of her father, Sonny Bono? He was a Republican, but he advocated her lifestyle.
FP: He sure did, and he advocated gay rights in Congress. We picketed his funeral in Palm Springs, too. He was a kind of amoral person in many ways. He didn’t have any core Christian values.
MH: Do you think he’s burning in Hell?
FP: Sure.
MH: What about Cher? We’re protesting her.
FP: How will you do that?
MH: There’s about ten of us and we’re going to have placards.
FP: What will the sign say?
MH: That Cher is pro-gay, and that’s not God’s way. That’s against the Bible!
FP: She’s generally whorish, too. Have you seen pictures of her? Just get a picture of her and put it on the sign, and then put a big word at the top, “whore,” and then at the bottom say, “Cher,” and then “pro-gay” at the top.
MH: Why do you think so many people turn out to these gay pride parades?
FP: Because they’re perverts, and it’s the essential nature of the pervert to push it. It’s part of the sodomite character. Jeremiah 4 says they were not ashamed when they committed such abominations, neither could they blush. They’re the only humans without the capacity to blush over their shameful, filthy conduct. That’s part of their depravity, to insist on putting it on parade.
MH: Do you think that’s why they like this disco music?
FP: Well that’s a different issue. I’m talking about their insistence on being exhibitionists. It’s Satanic music.
MH: You go to a lot of those parades…
FP: We go to a lot of fag parades. Every big city has them.
MH: What do you think of Bill Clinton? He seems to like homosexuals a lot.
FP: He’s a pervert and he’s exceedingly evil. There are no redeeming features. He claims to be a Baptist. We picket those priests who counsel Clinton. This country deserves him. This country is evil. But Canada outpaced us with that Supreme Court decision.
MH: Is there any hope for your country?
FP: No, I don’t think there is any hope. We are in the days of Josiah, the King of Israel, who knew his last days had come.
MH: Do you ever manage to convert anyone at these parades?
FP: At the parade you’ve got to be worried about staying alive. It takes a couple of hundred armed police officers in riot gear to get us out of there every year. We’ve heard from some homosexuals who sound sincere and say they’ve converted, and I’ve got hope for them, but not much.
MH: What can concerned people do? I’m worried about my family!
FP: You’ve got to read the Bible and call on the Lord. I’ve got thirteen children and 49 grandchildren. I read the Bible and call on the Lord.
MH: What is it about our country that’s taken us so far down this path? We’ve got national gay rights legislation now!
FP: The sure sign of irrevocable apostasy was when the highest judicial body said it was all right for fags to marry.
I would think of Phelps from time to time, as he made intermittent media appearances for his various protests, which expanded to include U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. This caused his popularity to plunge further and even led to a Supreme Court case challenging his right to picket funerals, which he won on First Amendment grounds.
Last October, I learned that two of his granddaughters who had left the WBC were staying in Montreal. I managed to interview them for a story for the Canadian national paper The Globe and Mail. They left the WBC because of all the hatred that the church was spreading. The point of my 1999 interview was to show what a sad, absurd man Phelps was. My hope is that now that he’s gone his family will come to realize this in time.
