Tebben Gill Lopez/ The Mirror
Rumors have been circulating that certain members of the LGBT community are planning to picket former Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps’ funeral and have gay sex on his grave. The guy hasn’t even died yet, but already the militant left is mobilizing to desecrate the memory of one of the most hated men in America.
But why? Westboro already excommunicated Phelps last year for supposedly promoting that church members be “kinder.” Clearly, the coiners of “God hates fags” weren’t having that, so they kicked his shriveled butt to the curb.
Yet still, unaffiliated, and on his deathbed no less, Phelps finds himself the subject of controversy yet again. Although he might deserve our disdain in every way, preliminary plans to picket his grave and have gay sex on it leave a bad taste in my mouth.
There is no such thing as “righteous” hate mongering. Hate for the sake of political justice doesn’t solve anything. In fact, it corrupts a good cause. LGBT rights are happening, there is no questioning that. What good does it do to stoop to the level of close-minded homophobes, adopting their tactics to seek revenge on a soon-to-be silenced voice?
The best thing we can do to squash Westboro has always been the same: ignore them. Don’t go to their website, don’t publicize their protests and don’t contribute to their tired out drama. As the saying goes, if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears, no one cares either.
Westboro functions as a succubus; except rather than feeding on sexual energy, they are fueled by our hatred. The more hate we throw at them, the more ammunition we give them to fight back.
Let’s give them nothing to talk about.
The best we can hope for is that the name “Phelps” gets relegated to no more than a footnote in the pages of history. Better yet: a blip in the system long forgotten.
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