WBC: Gays Should be Put to Death (Video)

From The New Civil Rights Movement:

Jonathan Phelps, son of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, says that “absolutely” homosexuals — including gay men, lesbian women, and bisexual and transgender people — should be put to death. “It’s the view of the Bible, it’s the clear teaching of the Bible,” Phelps said, adding that “the established human government should be following the rules of the Bible.”

The Westboro Baptist Church, which markets itself as “God Hates Fags,” is perhaps best known for picketing the funerals of soldiers, gay people, and celebrities, and has won a First Amendment case in the U.S. Supreme Court allowing them to do so. Westboro maintains a network of websites, including GodHatesFags.com, GodHatesIslam.com, JewsKilledJesus.com, and BeastObama.com.

The Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kansas, is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an active anti-gay hate group.

Jonathan Phelps spoke today with journalist David Pakman, of “The David Pakman Show,” telling him he believes in the biblical mandate that requires gay people to be put to death, although he declined, when pressed, to identify the method of extermination that should be used.

The good thing is that WBC is a fringe group that is more of a punchline than anything else. People rarely listen to them and when they do, eye-rolls generally follow. The bad thing is that this is not just a fringe notion. Remember that in the not-too-distant-past, a North Carolina pastor said pretty much the same thing while other pastors advocated acts of violence and putting LGBT people in concentration camps. Their partitioners backed them up in those stances, even on national television. This just goes to show how far we really have to go in our fight for equality and winning over the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens.