Topeka: Yes To Gay Rights No To Phelps Clan
(Topeka, Kansas) The virulent anti-gay Fred Phelps clan was dealt a double blow in the group’s hometown Tuesday. Topeka voters rejected a bid to repeal the city’s gay rights ordinances and turned down an attempt by one of the clan leaders to gain a seat on city council currently held by a lesbian.
Phelps runs the Westboro Baptist Church which has been described by some authorities as a cult and operates the God Hates Fags website. The group, made up mostly of relatives of Phelps, routinely demonstrates at the funerals of AIDS victims.
They successfully managed to get enough signatures to force a vote on repealing two gay rights ordinances. One bans employment discrimination in city government on the basis of sexual orientation the other is hate crimes law.
The repeal bid failed 14,285 to 12,795. Had it passed it would have barred Topeka from reinstating such protections for 10 years. (source)
When things like this happen in places like Topeka, Kansas, I realize that we’ve made progress. It’s getting harder and harder for a bigot to pass their agenda onto others - even in an ultra conservative place like Topeka, Kansas.
People often overlook or view events such as this in rural places as trivial, when they are a real barometer on the progress that has been made. Another example that recently happened was in Idaho, where the Idaho Senate killed a proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution to ban gay marriage.
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I think Fred Phelps is actually doing a great service to the gay community by showing the extreme whackoism (is that a word?) that some hold in their beliefs.
I can take the garbage that Fred Phelps dishes out. It honestly doesn't bother me because I don't care what he feels about me. The only REAL thing that I totally despise about him is the pain he causes others. Picketing someone's funeral is absolutely reprehensible and shows a total lack of compassion and caring for anything.
...yeah, my spell checker doesn't like "whackoism" either. ;)
Life is such an irony. Fred Phelps is one of the best assets the gay rights movement has! I hope he gets a lot more media attention.
Dan
Fritz,
I completely agree with you. Midwestern values are very different from what many understand. My experience in Idaho was not a good one. Perhaps I went to school with some bad apples? I don't know. The kids who went after me did get caught but not punished significantly. I don't think that necessarily means that the people are bad and intolerant. I think it means that many people are just ignorant to the situation and when confronted with hatred of this nature, simply don't know how to respond to it.
I grew up in Emmett, Idaho and while my teen years there were not good years for me (15-18), there were many wonderful and warm people there who were my friends. We lived on a fruit farm (no puns please), so we had plenty of fruit and vegetables and that sort of thing. Our neighbors had dairy cows and chickens. We would always exchange items that the other didn't have. No money was exchanged. It was seen as the neighborly thing to do. Everyone knew everyone's business, but no one cared so much. That was when I was a young boy. If you've ever watched the Lord of the Rings, it was to me very much like growing up in The Shire.
As I became a teen, I changed. I became different and restless. And, I started to see how that difference threatened some. For the first time in my life, I experienced hate. And after I was beaten, people were more in disbelief than anything else. People were saying, "Why on Earth would those boys do something like that?" That was the environment.
Not so long ago, Fred Phelps tried to put his monument of "Matthew Shepard in Hell" in Julia Davis Park in Boise, Idaho, right along side the monument of the Ten Commandments. People were outraged and saw it for exactly what it is; an expression of hatred.
It is worth remembering these events because it's all too easy for us to look at places like Nebraska, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, and many others, as just being a bastion of hatred. I just don't think that's accurate.
I am originally from S/W Nebraska and most of my family lives there and in N/W Kansas. People always assume that this is "ultra-conservative" territory. But, they don't really understand the people or the unique cultures that exist in the Midwest.
The moral codes are very different there. People are much more private about their personal lives and gossip is generally not tolerated. They are also very protective of their friends and neighbors rights to privacy.
I have never in my life heard any of my aunts, uncles, cousins, or my parents use the terms "fag", "queer", "homo", or any other slur directed at gay people. They just don't talk about the subject.
They are much more likely to say something like, "Bill is a confirmed bachelor, but he's a very nice man and a good neighbor." or "Judy and Jane are single ladies who share a house. You should see their nice garden." They get their point across and make it clear that they try to see good in everyone.
My grandmother's church had a priest who was obviously gay. He was very flamboyant and the closest I ever heard to a gay slur about him was the word "fancy" -- and only bright pink vestments were capable of bringing that on.
Seriously, this is as close as I've ever heard anyone in my family talk about the subject. And, they have always been nice to my "friends" at family gatherings.
Someone like Phelps comes across as disgusting and vulgar -- forcing them to hear something that they would rather just deal with politely. They don't draw a distinction between Phelps and the naked male go-go dancers on a pride float they see on TV. Both are equally foreign in manner and attitude.
The people in this part of the country have a farming heritage. A culture developed there in which people depended on their neighbors and small communities to help with their crops and protect their land. For example, Catholics had to get along with their Lutheran neighbors and they devoloped a peculiar type of tolerance. They got together at harvest time, but for obvious reasons didn't discuss religion.
If Phelps and his cult of hate showed up at my funeral in smalltown Nebraska, my family would be horrified. While no one would be likely to take up the cause of gay rights, they certainly wouldn't forgive and forget. Phelps would forever be remembered as a someone with a "gutter mouth" and a "trash talker" -- I'm sure that's what's happening everywhere he goes. So, keep it up, Phelps!