Ignore the anti-gay hate group Westboro Baptist Church with a counter protest

The anti-gay hate group known as the Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest at East Lansing High School this Thursday for some unknown reason, but at lest one real church is working to deny the hatemongers the attention and publicity they crave.

All Saints Episcopal Church in East Lansing is sponsoring a counter protest from 2-4 p.m. Thursday at the church parking lot at 800 Abbot Rd. in East Lansing. These counter protests for other publicity seeking hate groups, like the Klan and Nazis, have been very successful because the groups thrive on the free publicity and the confrontation.

As you know, the Westboro Baptist Church is headed by Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kan., and they are notorious for their "God Hates Fags" website and protests. They gained infamy with vulgar and disgusting protests at the funerals of AIDS victims, but they really entered the mainstream when they began protesting at the funerals of servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq.

They claim their deaths are God's punishment for America's "fag-enabling" ways. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), that tracks hate groups like the Westboro Baptist Church, said they have picketed events ranging from theater performances to children murdered or killed in traffic accidents. “These protests share a simple theme: Attacking America's perceived tolerance of homosexuality and celebrating God's perceived wrath as just rewards for "fags" and "fag-enablers."”

The 100 or so followers of the so-called church are primarily members of the Phelps family, and they seek and love violent confrontation with some very personal and vile attacks that they hope will provoke you and will land you in court.

According to the SPLC, “Phelps himself is a disbarred attorney who was long known for massive litigation; at one point, he personally had almost 200 lawsuits pending in federal court. Although his congregation includes only about 22 adults, at least 14 of those have law degrees. In fact, “the church has its own law firm, Phelps Chartered, which is staffed by church members and which has repeatedly filed suit against its perceived enemies.”

Obviously people want to express their distaste for these disgusting tactics, but the best thing to do is to not give them the attention they crave. The good people at All Saints Episcopal Church are expecting up to 500 people at the counter protest, and they are asking for food donations for the protest. They are asking for things like doughnuts, apples, granola bars and other snack type food, and beverages like cider, water tea and coffee. Call the church at (517) 351-7160 to offer help.

Anti-gay hate group fights against protection against violence for gays

LANSING – It’s amazing the hoops right-wingers will jump through to deny rights to the gay community.

We saw a perfect example Wednesday at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee where Republicans voted against House Bills 4835 and 4836 known as the hate crime bills. The bills would increase the penalties for crimes committed because of person's bias toward another person or group based on race, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation or other reason. The rub for right-wingers is that it dares to protect gays, a group that has suffered the most violence in recent years.

The measure was approved during the last Legislative session in the House, but, like most bills, died when the Senate failed to take them up.

As usual the hearing brought out the anti-gay hate group the American Family Association (AFA) led by homophobe Gary Glenn. He said the bill should not include protections for homosexuals or transvestites. He presented his usual biased and debunked testimony, like the bills will censor people and religious expression. He continues to use the debunked example of a grandmother in Philadelphia arrested for a hate crime.

Brian Mackey, Washtenaw County prosecutor and spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, testified in favor of the bill. He prosecuted one of the first hate crimes when the law went into effect in the early 1990’s. He said the bill in no way infringes on the 1st Amendment’s freedom of speech or religion.

“This takes no one’s rights away from anyone, and it hurts no one,” he said.

Glenn claimed the bills are only intended to make the gay lifestyle acceptable and mainstream. Mackey denied that.

“I don’t base my decision on who I prosecute on what the Triangle Foundation says,” he said. “I’m bound by the law, and that’s how it should be.”

Unlike the current law, the bills would ensure the conviction would be based on the perpetrator's intent, not on the actual status of the victim. Mackey said it’s the offender who makes the choice, not the victim.

“I can be attacked by someone who mistakes my sexual orientation,” he said. “Mr. Glenn can be attacked by someone who mistakes his sexual identity.”

Mackey brought up Livingston County’s racist past it cannot shake with the story of former resident and Klan member Robert Miles, who lived in rural Cohoctah Township north of Howell, in the 1970s and ‘80s. Mackey prosecuted an associate of Miles’ who helped him tar and feather a pro-integration high school principal. On the surface, it might seem like a harmless prank until you realize why it happened; to intimidate more than just the principal.

Mackey used another example of simple graffiti that is just destruction of property, but if the person wrote something like “Hitler didn’t finish the job,” then the person has assaulted the entire community.

“You should be convicted for what you really did,” he said.

What’s really telling is the numerous groups in support of the bills, and they include the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, The Michigan Department of State Police, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, The Triangle Foundation, the Mt. Pleasant Area Diversity Group, The Women’s Commission, The Advisory Council on Asian Pacific Affairs, The Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, The Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, the Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services, The Anti-Defamation League and the Grand Rapids Community Relations Committee.

Those in opposition, just two: the American Family Association and the so-called The American Decency Association.

The bills were passed out of committee, and should be taken up in the House very soon.

Anti-gay hate group does not want gays to be protected from intimidation

The anti-gay hate group the American Family Association (AFA) of Michigan is busy spreading misinformation and insisting gay people not be protected from intimidating and hate crimes.

The AFA, led by homophobe, Gary Glenn, has had their supporters flood Michigan legislative offices with letters written by the AFA railing against House Bills 6340 and 6341 that addresses hate crimes. The bills were approved last week by the House before it broke for its two-week break, and it now goes to the Senate for consideration. The AFA falsely claims it supports censorship, it discriminates against religion and it gives gays special treatment and protection. Although the bill covers hate crimes committed because of ethnicity, race, disability and gender, it’s the protection it offers to gays that sets them off.

It's very similar to the objections raised about Matt's Safe School Law that would require public school districts in Michigan to establish bullying policies. In fact, it mentions those bills, HBs 4162 and 4091, in the letter.

"As with recent "bullying" legislation, HB 6341 segregates victims of certain crimes into special "protected class" categories -- including "sexual orientation" (homosexual behavior) and "gender identity" (cross-dressing) -- and then doles out special enhanced protection based on membership in those categories."

HBs 6340 and 6341 would increase the penalties for crimes committed because of person's bias toward another person or group based on race, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation or other reason. According to the bill analysis, "A person is guilty of ethnic intimidation if he or she maliciously, and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that individual's race, color, religion, gender, or national origin, caused physical contact with another; damages, destroys, or defaces any real or personal property of another; and/or threatens, by word or act, to do one of the fore-mentioned acts."

Also, a person who hung or displayed a noose on property; displayed a burning cross or displayed any symbol that is historically or generally understood as intended to intimidate or threaten would be eligible to be charged. Last year in Michigan, there were 28 convictions for ethnic intimidation under a similar law.

The letter uses a debunk incident as a reason to oppose the bills.

"Such legislation has also proven to be a serious threat to religious freedom in other jurisdictions such as Philadelphia, where a multi-racial group of citizens in 2005 was arrested and prosecuted intimidation" because they read Bible verses out loud on a public street during a "gay pride" festival in the city."

They are actually referring to a 2004 incident where 11 members of the group Repent America, an organization that dedicates a large chunk of their time to protesting pro-gay events. they are not as bad as the Westboro Baptist Church, but they share some characteristics.

The incident continues to be misrepresented, and it has been debunked on Snopes. What happened was that they were using a bullhorn to drown out a stage performance with anti-gay shouts during Philly's annual Outfest, which led several people on-site to confront them. This then led the police to ask them to move in order to prevent any potential violence, but they refused -- which then and only then led to them being arrested for such charges as failure to disperse, possessing an instrument of crime (a bullhorn), obstructing a highway, criminal conspiracy, and disorderly conduct. Under Pennsylvania's hate crimes law they were also later charged with "ethnic intimidation" -- but in order to receive this additional charge, they had to first engage in behavior that the officers found unlawful.

However, when the charges were contested in court, it was ultimately determined that no hate crime law had been violated, and the charges were dismissed.

That has not stopped so-called Christen groups like the AFA from using the incident to further their agenda. This is not the first time conservative religious groups have misrepresented an incident to further their cause, and the most recent example occurred at Mount Hope Church in Delta Township on Nov. 9 where the church's claims did not match the police report.

The assault of so-called Christians on gays is disturbing, like the banning of gay marriage in California financed by the Mormon Church.