A Gay Dad’s Requiem on the Legacy of Fred Phelps

[Luddly Neddite]

A Gay Dad?s Requiem on the Legacy of Fred Phelps - The Good Men Project

... The nineties arrived with progressive gains were in process, still painfully slow. Then an event occurred that was so graphic and raw, that it tore not only at the heart of the LGBT community, but caught the attention of the mass population in a way that hundreds of thousands of deaths of gay men had not.

A young man named Mathew Shepherd was beaten and found crucified on a Wyoming fence.

The shock and horror of Matthew’s demise was magnified with what, or more to the point, who, came next: Fred Phelps.

Phelps and his Westboro Church were opportunistic. The high profile of the Matthew Shepherd case was the perfect chance for them to grab the notoriety they craved. While the nation reeled in shock, they picketed Mathew’s funeral and proclaimed that the young victim would burn in hell. We had not seen such bold insensitivity on the part of the homophobic voice before and it offended not only those who disagreed with it, but also those who shared its sentiments....

Now, Fred Phelps has died. Many will celebrate, and many will make comments about picketing his funeral in an eye-for-an-eye retaliation. I will not be among them.

I do not respect Fred Phelps, nor do I forgive the pain he inflicted, but I value him. I value what he contributed to the struggle for LGBT equality. I am grateful that because of his presence, millions woke up to understand homophobia better and to confront it.

His activity had a dramatic and unintended consequence. He and his family became the mirror that many Americans had to face about their own attitudes about LGBT people. They did not like what they saw. Others who did not harbor such negativity themselves were made aware that such oppression existed. My blogger friend Ono Kono was one, she wrote:

Two decades ago, I was unaware of the struggle of LGBT people. Back then, I was a busy working Mom, juggling career and family. I cared about others, but I was asleep when it came to their plight … I thank you Phelps clan for opening my heart to love, in spite of your hatred for my LGBT brothers and sisters. I saw the cruelty in your eyes, echoed by the pain in others who watched you. I don’t know what brought you down your path to hatred. I can only say, I thank you for being so open about it, but only because you helped me wake up to the horrid truth that people who hate still exist.

Fred Phelps and his Westboro Church believe what many who are homophobic out of “religious” principles espouse. Their anti-gay stance is based on a poorly thought out, superficial reading of the colloquially translated Bible. “The Bible says that being gay is a sin,” is the popular notion.

The Bible does not actually say that. What it actually represents is specific writings from ancient times, addressing situations in those times and places that have nothing to do with modern LGBT people. In order to make it apply to our current life, its proponents have to take passages out of historical or cultural context and demand only a calculated literal understanding of them. Fred Phelps has been their undoing.

This op-ed is well worth the read and I'm putting it here because I hope, as he does, that we can get past the hate and treat other people as we ourselves wish to be treated.

How can the death of this bitterly demented and sad man serve a greater good in our future?

 

[Stephanie]

yawn

typical though, spew hate against someone they accuse of hating

who sits around and frets over what this man Phelps says from some no name church?

Myself, I have more important things to worry about in life

 

[Katzndogz]

The Westboro Church is a single family numbering no more that 20 or so individuals. Their size and importance was created, made, manufactured and exaggerated by gays because gays were desperate for a monster. As they created something to hate they gave these few individuals great wealth. Rather than being forgotten and ignored, the Phelps family turned all that animosity to their favor and won every case they filed. Fred Phelps for all his craziness, despite his misunderstanding of the bible and religion was certainly a benefit to his family.

 

[jwoodie]

Why is the death of a gay person so much more important than the death of a straight person?

 

[oldfart]

Typical of USMB: one good post followed by three drive-bys by three ignorant posters who are proud of their ignorance. Keep it up guys. The world needs more horrible examples of how not to be a human being to warn the rest; which I believe was the gist of the OP which you apparently missed.