World Cup inspires lesbian footballers to play with pride
www.cnn.com
Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) — The training pitch is a dusty patch of ground used by the local police force as a car park, and the club house is located in a former women’s prison that held Winnie Mandela captive during the apartheid era.
Two of the team’s players have been victims of “corrective” rapes — Soccer City, this is not.
The facilities of the Johannesburg-based “Chosen Few” lesbian football club could not be further from those of the glamorous teams that play in the 2010 World Cup, but the first such tournament to be held in Africa has proved inspirational to the members of this local squad. [ ... ]
Chosen Few, South Africa’s only openly gay female football team, was created in 2004 by the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW) to fill a void for many of the passionate, soccer-loving women who attended their sessions but who had been expelled from their township teams because of their sexuality.

“All hell is going to break lose,” Barry said while speaking to reporters. “We may have a civil war. The black community is just adamant against this.”

Now DC’s other pillar of morality and associate of Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage, Harry Jackson, according to Right Wing Watch, is threatening “bloodletting” if he doesn’t get his way:

We’re going to have to start earlier and take straw polls earlier. Our opposition had been working with these [council members] for five years. They’d invested time and money, and, to their credit, my opposition applied extreme political pressure on 30 or 40 people in the city, in the mayor’s office and the city council.

But they have not changed ordinary people’s opinions. It’s a faux change. For instance, they created a gay organization of clergy. Our side has done the opposite, mobilizing a grass-roots effort with 1,200 churches in D.C.

In future races, religious people are going to start going after people’s political careers. In D.C., some very vulnerable black councilmen went along with the city council, and some of these guys will not be sitting in those chairs in 2010 elections. Many in our coalition are wising up, looking for candidates. Political action committees are going to be formed. You’re going to see a bloodletting that is going to mark a new style of engagement for people who are against same-sex marriage.

(emphasis: mine)

The National Organization for Marriage might want to reel in this loose cannon. While Jackson might be speaking metaphorically, the District of Columbia in 2009, according to blogger Joe My. God., has seen an increase in violent, anti-gay hate-crimes. And, on 20 November 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that, while hate crimes dropped by 4% in 2008 in LA County, hate crimes directed at LGBT people “increased, prompted in part by last November’s highly charged Proposition 8 initiative, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in California.”

There were 134 sexual-orientation hate crimes reported last year, up from 111 in 2007, and were more likely to be violent than hate crimes motivated by race or religion, according to the annual Hate Crime Report by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.

Around 17 percent of hate crime victims were attacked because of their sexual orientation, the overwhelming majority, 96 percent, because they were gay or lesbian.

That’s nearly an 11% increase.

The FBI report indicates that hate crimes against those poor oppressed Christian conservatives barely registered and hate crimes against heterosexuals charted at 2.0% of all cases in the sexual orientation category. However:

Nearly 20 percent were attacked for their religious affiliation, with Jews making up around two-thirds of the victims of those attacks.

Muslims were the targets of less than eight percent of religious hate crimes, putting them in third place behind Jews and followers of unspecified “other religions” attacked in 13 percent of religion-fueled hate crimes.

The total number of hate crimes rose to nearly 9,700 from 9,500 in 2007, according to the FBI. The article states: “Most hate crimes targeting individuals were intimidation or simple assault, but seven murders and 11 rapes were counted among the hate crime statistics.”

A report last week in the Los Angeles Times on 20 November 2009 indicated that, while hate crimes dropped by 4% in 2008 in LA County, hate crimes directed at LGBT people “increased, prompted in part by last November’s highly charged Proposition 8 initiative, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in California.”

There were 134 sexual-orientation hate crimes reported last year, up from 111 in 2007, and were more likely to be violent than hate crimes motivated by race or religion, according to the annual Hate Crime Report by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.

Bonus points to Dan Savage for noting: “Remember how anti-Mormon, anti-Christian hate crimes totally skyrocketed in California after Prop 8 because gays and lesbians are so angry and violent and hateful and intolerant?”

Ahem.

Remember how anti-Mormon, anti-Christian hate crimes totally skyrocketed in California after Prop 8 because gays and lesbians are so angry and violent and hateful and intolerant?

From The Los Angeles Times:

Overall number of hate crimes drops in L.A. County but crimes against gays increase, new report says

Los Angeles County saw an overall 4% drop in hate crimes last year, while crimes against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people increased, prompted in part by last November’s highly charged Proposition 8 initiative, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in California, according to a new report released today.

There were 134 sexual-orientation hate crimes reported last year, up from 111 in 2007, and were more likely to be violent than hate crimes motivated by race or religion, according to the annual Hate Crime Report by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.

“I am very sad to be here today because my presence means that my community – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people – were horribly impacted by hate crimes in 2008,” Lorri Jean, chief executive of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, said at a news conference.

“Anti-gay and anti-transgender hate crimes do not happen in a vacuum,” she said, “they happen in the context of a society that still tolerates and even promotes discrimination against us.”

(tip: Dan Savage at SLOG)

Barry Duke, writing at Great Britain’s Freethinker, is astonished by the degree of hatred toward LGBT Americans espoused by elements of the radical religious right here in the Land of the Free.

Here’s a taste from his piece Fry in hell, faggots!:

JUST when I thought I had a handle on some of the world’s pottiest pastimes – running with bulls in Pamplona, dwarf-tossing in Australia and cheese-rolling in Gloucestershire are just three examples – along comes a bunch of religious halfwits with a brand new entertainment: a contest to see who can best bad-mouth homos.

On November 16, a pack of crazy Christian clerics will be congregating in Washington to publicly defame gay people. The object of the exercise is to challenge the new anti-hatred Matthew Shepard Act, a Congressional Act which protects citizens against hate crimes committed because of a victim’s perceived sexuality.

(link: from the original)

Wing Nut Daily‘s Bob Unruh elaborates on Cass’ kooky plans:

A rally is being planned in Washington to raise the alarm over the nation’s new “hate crimes” law and to force Attorney General Eric Holder to confront the unconstitutionality of the measure’s “thought” penalties, according to a Christian leader working on the event.

Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission told WND there are a series of approaches being considered to challenge the restrictions on expression of religion and speech contained in the law signed last week by President Obama.

At the rally, set for 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 16, ministers will preach from the Bible on the prohibition against homosexuality, then will present a letter to Holder demanding that the religious liberty of all Americans be respected.

[ ... ]

“This is the way it gets implemented in all the other countries,” Cass said. “Christians are singled out for prosecution, with threats, imprisonment and fines simply for refusing to stop doing what Christ commands: proclaiming the truth.”

As proof-positive that Cass has never actually read the bill in question, the following is a statement from the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission published on 28 October 2009:

“In other nations, like Canada, where hate crime laws have been enacted, it is Christians, specifically conservative Christians who hold to the historic Christian faith and it’s values, that become the object of institutionalized, governmental hate.”

“Christians who dare to tell the truth about the social, moral, spiritual and health consequences of illicit homosexual acts are accused of hate speech and intimidated into silence with threats of fines or jail.”

“The fact the hate bill had to be passed in such an unscrupulous and cynical manner (attaching it to the Defense Authorization Act) reveals the depth of President Obama’s commitment to a radical, anti-Christian agenda. He will stop at nothing to undermine the will of the majority of Americans to pay back militant homosexual activists who raised millions of dollars for his campaign and worked to get him elected.”

“To sign the bill in the Rose Garden is another slap in the face and shows the level of contempt President Obama has for the majority of Americans who oppose the “homosexualization” of marriage and public education.”

“The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission will soon be announcing its plans, along with other leading pro-family groups, to defy, counter and challenge this unconstitutional attack on our religious liberty.”

Unless this born-again, christianist crybaby shows up with lethal weapons and/or instruments of torture and proceeds to act out his morbid, anti-gay fantasies on an actual human being, there’s no chance that he nor his loony-tunes, hate-preaching buddies are going to end up in the slammer.

Earlier posts on Gary Cass:

I haven’t wasted much space on this attention-obsessed, christian-supremacist blowhard, but here ya go:

• Guns, religion and kookery – March 11th, 2009
• Rated P for Perverse – January 16th, 2009
• Christianist paranoia on parade – January 5th, 2009
• The Mickey and Judy Option – December 6th, 2008

+++++++

UPDATE (9 November 3:00 pm):

Here are some additional details about the christianist goons set to prey against the gays in Washington DC. From a Christian Newswire press release:

On November 16, 2009, at 1:30 PM, an ad hoc coalition of concerned ministers from various denominations will be holding a Press Conference and Rally for Religious Freedom in front of the Department of Justice.

A group of ministers including Rick Scarborough of Vision America, Gary Cass of the Christian Anti Defamation Commission, Bishop Earl Jackson of STAND America, Paul Blair and Steve Kern of Reclaim Oklahoma, Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, Brad Cranston of Iowa Baptists for Biblical Values and Jim Garlow, a leader in the Prop 8 battle in California will join together with others and boldly preach Biblical truth concerning the subject of homosexuality. If believing and proclaiming the Bible is considered a Hate Crime, then they are willing to be arrested, if necessary, in order to stand for the guaranteed First Amendment right to free speech for all ministers of the Gospel.

(emphasis: mine)

Leave it to an anti-gay asshat like James Garlow to demonstrate both his intolerance and lack of reading comprehension skills. Nobody’s going to jail unless they hit or kill a gay person, Jimbo. Get over it.

Anderson Cooper and Panel Discuss Obama’s Gay Rights Record and Hate Crimes Act (video: CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360º via News1News at YouTube)

In the video clip above CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosts writer, editor, activist Dan Savage and Towleroad’s roving reporter Corey Johnson for a discussion of the state of LGBT rights and the passage — at last! — of The Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

This is good. This is progress. Many thanks to Matthew Shepard’s parents — Dennis and Judy Shepard who persevered and courageously saw this through in memory of their murdered gay son, and to the Human Rights Campaign and all the big gay orgs that worked so tirelessly on this issue, and thanks to the citizens — gay, straight and in between — who took the time to write the letters and make the phone calls that made this happen, and thanks to the National Equality Marchers who made the case in the streets of DC, and to the Congress and President Obama who has vowed to immediately sign this bill into law.

But don’t be fooled; this will not magically cause the relentless attacks on LGBT citizens to cease. What was said by our enemies, the lies to which they stooped in their attempt to frame this bill as a thought crimes issue or a pedophile protection bill, was chilling. They hate us because they believe their Bible tells them to hate us, and the hatred in their tiny little hearts isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

Gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability were rightly added to a law that already grants protection to those who form multi-national organizations and mega-businesses based on made-up stories to, among other things, explain why the Sun rises and sets and the stars come out at night, and why their flocks should avoid eating shrimp and pork, and why their God hates fags. Historically, in this country, thought crimes laws have always existed and they favor those whose lifestyle choices include belonging to these outfits.

We got a piece of that pie and that’s about it. We can still be fired in 29 states for the mere fact of being our wonderful, fabulous, immutable gay selves. Those of us who desire to do so are still not allowed to openly and proudly serve our country in its armed forces. And those of us who wish to have our lasting, loving relationships — our families — honored and respected under the laws of this country are denied that right. We have a long way to go.

Writing at his blog yesterday, Dan Savage said, “This law, a law that will have very little impact on the day-to-day lives of most gays and lesbians, is a step in the right direction, a positive development, and a good sign.” Needless to say, Savage has more to say at his blog and he says it, as always, in that inimitable Dan Savage kinda way. He’s right when he observes: “That’s nice—that’s great (honest)—but it’s not a laurel that the president can rest on.”

Outside the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach (all photos: Mike Tidmus,
fair use encouraged, larger versions available)

Eighteen or so San Diego activists descended on the Belly Up Tavern last Saturday evening for a peaceful demonstration. Hopes for a face to face meeting between representatives of the popular Solana Beach night club, Jamaican hate-singer Buju Banton, the local media and representatives of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community evaporated earlier that afternoon. Consequently, what had been intended solely as a demonstration/boycott of the singer was broadened to include the Belly Up.

Several fans of Banton chastised the demonstrators, parroting the singer’s oft repeated claims that he no longer performed certain material that advocated the murder of gay and lesbian people and that the war declared by the dance-hall singer against “faggots” was long since over. They seemed entirely unaware that Banton had reiterated his original declaration of war to the Jamaican Observer earlier in the week and has been videotaped performing the material in question in recent years.

The singer and his handlers, and apparently a number of American nightclub and concert hall owners, talent bookers and promoters, seem satisfied that a single unproductive meeting with activists in San Francisco early last week constitutes adequate outreach to the GLBT community, against which the singer has, for years, advocated murder and mayhem.

It’s neither satisfactory nor adequate, and, consequently the Belly Up Tavern will now be the object of a full-scale boycott by members and allies of the GLBT community — details to be announced.

(graphic: mine)

UPDATE (17 October 5:00 pm): It’s now official. A full-scale boycott of the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach has been announced. The Belly Up’s owners might be interested in having a conversation with hotelier Doug Manchester right about now. Details coming up. In the meantime, there will be a demonstration tonight at the Belly Up Tavern at 7: pm.

As I write this, Jamaican hate-singer Buju Banton is still scheduled to perform at the Belly Up Tavern tonight in Solana Beach, and the San Diego GLBT community will still be demonstrating at 7:00 pm at the venue. In a heads-up on Thursday, I provided some background on this performer who, in his lyrics, has advocated pouring acid on gay and lesbian people and shooting them. His refusal to disavow his virulent anti-GLBT attitude and discontinue performing his most hateful music has resulted in international condemnation and cancellations of his performances in the United States, Canada and Europe over the past several years.

That Banton and his handlers met earlier this week with a group of representatives from the GLBT community in San Francisco has been widely reported. Now it appears, the singer’s management and promoters are disingenuously taking advantage of this, for all intents and purposes, unproductive meeting to claim Banton has, in fact, reached out to the GLBT community, while, behind the scenes, aggressively facilitating the rescheduling of cancelled performances and booking new dates.

For Banton and his people, the San Francisco meeting was little more than a photo-op.

The fact is, Buju Banton contacted the Jamaican media following the meeting and reiterated his declaration: “There is no end to the war between me and faggot [sic].”

According to the Jamaican Observer, Banton said:

“This is a fight, and as I said in one of my songs ‘there is no end to the war between me and faggot’ and it’s clear. The same night after I met with them (gay associates), they pepper-sprayed the concert. So what are you trying to tell me?” claimed Banton who phoned Mutabaruka’s Cutting Edge talk-show on Wednesday in order to clarify his meeting in the US gay capital. “I owe dem nothing, they don’t owe I nothing.”

Citing his Rastafarian religious convictions, Banton has steadfastly refused to comply with any suggestions for making amends with the GLBT community offered by the San Franciscans:

“Them come with demands which I and I a go flop dem right now, because give thanks to my culture and upbringing I coulda never endorse them things. I can’t sell myself out, neither would I do that in a thousand years,” he continued. “I love everyone in the world. I don’t love no special group from another group. There are other needy organisations out there.”

“Them things” being: acknowledging the right of GLBT people to full equality and to live our lives free from hate and anti-gay violence.

San Diegan Syd Stevens has diligently worked to confront Banton’s tour. In addition to creating the website Cancel Buju Banton – Rasta Got Hate, Stevens has been closely involved in negotiations with the Belly Up Tavern to bring about a meeting between the San Diego GLBT community and Buju Banton and his management. Stevens told San Diego Gay and Lesbian News:

“The show will go on” Stevens opined, “and they are aware that there will be protesters. All we (the delegation) ask is that the protesters focus on Banton and not the Belly Up Tavern, who remain our friends. Their perspective is that Buju has played there before without incident, and their position is that he has changed.

“They are trying to do the right thing and are working to act as a bridge between our community and Buju’s management to get an interview with the Union Tribune, which we were unable to accomplish. So, if something greater can come out of this, I will withhold my judgment.”

As intense negotiations continue today, the day of the concert, San Diego has become a firewall. Tonight’s scheduled performance is a line in the sand that will determine, possibly once and for all, if Banton — and singers of his ilk — are allowed to continue to recklessly spew hate and advocate violence against the GLBT community. Stressing the urgency of confronting this singer of hate songs tonight in Solana Beach is not mere hyperbole. Hopefully, the San Diego community and our friends and allies will again rise to the challenge and powerfully make the case — as we did yesterday when 500 San Diegans showed up to confront the Westboro Baptist Church — that all of San Diego is a Hate Free Zone.

+++++++

Two must reads:

This morning I spoke to veteran journalist and editor of Frontiers in LA Karen Ocamb. She gave me permission to quote extensively from her recent article at LGBT POV on Buju’s Los Angeles performance:

Gays Protest Buju Banton – and Banton says: ‘No end to the war between me and the gays’

UPDATE: – Jim Key from the LA Gay & Lesbian Center stayed until 10:45 – I had to get back home – and he said more protesters arrived – swelling their ranks to 50. – KO

About 20 LGBT protesters chanted and carried signs outside Cabana Club in Hollywood in a quickly organized demonstration after the LA Gay & Lesbian Center confirmed that Buju Banton, the controversial Jamaican reggae singer, was performing there. Banton is the target of an international boycott because of violent anti-gay lyrics in some of his songs.

Though the club originally honored the boycott, they rescheduled Banton after the singer met with LGBT community representatives on Oct 12. A photo of the meeting was used by Banton’s management to generate positive PR.

“While there certainly was little movement on his part,” Michael Pretelis wrote about the meeting on his blog, “and we didn’t agree to tell any other gays to stop protesting his concert tour or suggesting he do more to confront the terrible, and sometimes deadly, anti-gay violence in Jamaica, we felt it was a very positive first step forward that the meeting took place.”

Club patrons, unimpressed by the protests, lined up one hour before Banton’s show. Some laughed and
one said, “This is 10 years old. Why are you doing this for something that’s 10 years old. He’s apologized. He’s apologized over and over. Why don’t you go take care of Prop 8?”

Over? How this for over?

Ocamb includes quite a few photographs from the demo outside the venue in Los Angeles and the text of this article from the Jamaican Observer — the source of several quotes I used earlier. Here are Karen Ocamb’s earlier posts on the Buju Banton tour:

• Protest antigay reggae singer BuJu Banton in Hollywood TONIGHT!
• Jaw-dropper of the day: Gays meet with Buju Baton

Finally, veteran British human rights activist activist and longtime opponent of murder music, Peter Tatchell responded to the San Francisco meeting with this email addressed to two of the activists involved in the meeting, Mike Petrelis and Andrea Shorter:

Hi Andrea and Michael,

Thanks for your efforts.

I don’t doubt the good intentions of the LGBT activists who attended the meeting with Buju Banton in San Francisco, but they appear to have come away with nothing from Banton. Not even promises.

I was shocked to read this SF Weekly article:

[full URL eliminated, link above]

Despite their reported failure to secure anything from Banton, LGBT activists agreed to allow his concert at the Rock It Room to go ahead.

If true, I am stunned that Banton’s demand for a concert was conceded in exchange for nothing tangible from him.
Contrary to his claims, Banton has part performed Boom Bye Bye in recent years and he profits from continuing sales of this song. He still makes money from urging the killing of faggots. Did no one make this point to him?

This meeting is a big propaganda victory for Banton. He can now use it to show that he has dialogue with the LGBT community. It will be ruthlessly exploited by his management to undermine the LGBT campaign and the concert cancellations.

He has used these PR and divide-and-rule tactics before – and LGBT Jamaicans were the losers.

This is not what LGBT Jamaicans in Jamaica and London wanted.

I am shocked that no one seem to have asked Banton to sign the Reggae Compassionate Act (RCA copy attached). This was the least that he should have been asked to do.

Just look at Banton’s record of lies and broken promises. See my briefing here:

[full URL eliminated, link above]

The SF Weekly article is very bad for our campaign – and very good for Banton. It makes him look reasonable and conciliatory.

Contrary to what the article says, this campaign not about Banton’s homophobia. It is about his incitements to murder LGBTs, which is a criminal offence in Jamaica and the US. No one should concede an inch to people who incite the murder of other human beings – and who refuse to apologise.

I urge you to issue a news statement making at least some of these points, and urging concrete action from Banton to show that he has changed, like him apologising to the LGBT communities (especially in Jamaica) and signing the RCA in public in front of you and the SF media (so he can’t deny doing so in future).

Thank you for considering this representation.

Yours in solidarity!

Peter Tatchell, OutRage! London, international coordinator, Stop Murder Music Campaign

Love meets hate on the streets of San Diego (all photos: Mike Tidmus,
fair use encouraged, larger versions available)

A tiny contingent from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas paid the City of San Diego a visit today. Infamous for their long history of picketing the funerals of AIDS victims, gay and lesbian leaders, hate crime victims and American soldiers, the organization — officially still headed by the Reverend Fred Phelps — has recently focused its attention on Jewish targets. Fred’s daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, two other adults and four extremely young children took up a position, surrounded by the press and film crews, on a corner diagonally across the street from San Diego High School. The other three corners were jammed with over 500 peaceful, but noisy, counter-demonstrators bearing flags, bullhorns and colorful signs and banners with positive, upbeat and occasionally humorous slogans.

It’s highly likely that the media’s focus will be on the group of seven with their vile messages, but the citizens of San Diego can be proud that so many of their fellow citizens showed up in the name of love, diversity, tolerance and equality to deliver a message that our city is and will always remain a Hate Free Zone.

++++++

UPDATE (16 October 7:24 pm): The number of counter-protesters, originally cited as 300-400 based on police estimates obtained by me at the scene, was just reported by the local CBS affiliate as being in excess of 500 San Diegans opposing the WBC’s hateful message.

(graphic: from the Tidmus archives)

OK. It’s not officially Phred Phelps Phriday. I made that up. It’s not like our local ayatollah-ette (and you know who I’m talking about) headed downtown and whined and sputtered and spewed and threw yet another prissy-hissy at a City Council meeting, demanding a fancy proclamation welcoming his Westboro Baptist Church co-gay-haters to San Diego. Wouldn’t happen. San Diego is a Hate Free Zone.

Here’s your basic grab-a-morning-cup-of-coffee-and-find-out-where-I’m-supposed-to-go details:

Westboro Baptist Church/Fred Phelps Counter-Protest for Equal Rights at San Diego High School

There will be a Nonviolent, Peaceful, political Counter-Protest for Equal Rights at San Diego High School on Friday, October 16th from 2:00-3:00 pm. Organized counter demonstrations will overshadow this hate group’s message with a message of respect, freedom and equality for all people.

Please register at: http://nohate.sdgln.com. Other WBC protest sites are listed when you register for the San Diego High School counter-protest.

Time: 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Location: San Diego High School
City: San Diego, CA

NOTE: This is too be a peaceful, positive protest. The Fredster’s already been called every name in the book, so why waste your creative talents on negativity.

Be smart! Be gay! And, hey … let’s make Fred’s visit pay!

You can be sure Old Fred would lose it if he knew some smart folks had figured out how to make his hateful little junket to San Diego High School benefit the gay straight alliance he’s here to demonstrate against. Here you go … The Phelps-A-Thon:

San Diego High School Phelps-A-Thon

Fred Phelps’ clan is coming to San Diego High School! The “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is planning this picket in San Diego because of the school’s strong support for LGBT students.

[ ... ]

However, when the Phelps group comes to San Diego High School to protest, they will actually be raising money for LGBT equality at the school!

We are hosting a Phelps-A-Thon to counter Fred Phelps’ hateful message. For every minute the “God Hates Fags” clan is protesting, we will be collecting donations to benefit the San Diego County chapter of Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). (Pledge Online). GLSEN “strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.”

The Family Fred plans on picketing at the high school for about fifty minutes. You can make an online pledge in any amount for each minute they’ll be out front preaching scheeching. The organizers add:

The point of this Phelps-A-Thon is two fold. First, we are using Phelps’ own hateful message to raise funds for a good cause, one that will help counter the lies that are being spread about LGBT people. Second, After the event, we will send Phelps a thank you card, telling him how much money he raised for LGBT equality. This will certainly upset the group and it is possible that they will stop protesting in order to stop our fundraising.

Details and more at the Phelps-A-Thon website.

Earlier posts:

• Fred Phelps to descend on San Diego
• All Fred Phelps mentions around here