The Westboro
Baptist Church, led by extremist Fred Phelps, is planning on
picketing the funeral of Brokeback Mountain
star Heath Ledger.
The Westboro
Baptist Church, led by extremist Fred Phelps, is planning on
picketing the funeral of Brokeback Mountain
star Heath Ledger.
The church, which
is well known for demonstrating outside the funerals of
fallen military personnel and AIDS victims, announced its
plans in a press release citing Leviticus 18:22, which
denounces homosexuality. While Ledger was not gay, he
took on the role of Ennis Del Mar, a gay cowboy in
Brokeback Mountain.
“God hates
the sordid, tacky bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known
as Brokeback Mountain," the press release
said, "and He hates all persons having anything to do
whatsoever with it."
“You
cannot live in defiance of God,” said Westboro
spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper, according to Fox
News. “He got on that big screen with a big,
fat message: God is a liar and it’s OK to be
gay.”
The Topeka,
Kan.–based church will limit its picketing of the
28-year-old Australia-born actor's funeral to the
United States. Members will not travel to Australia to
picket services there.
Australian
Baptist Church leaders have sent out statements to the
media, distancing themselves from the U.S.
congregation.
"The intention of
Ms. Shirley Phelps-Roper and other Westboro Baptist
Church members to picket the memorial services was
completely inappropriate, and their statements were
increasingly extreme and counterproductive," the
Reverend Dr. Ross Clifford said, according to the
Courier-Mail newspaper in Australia.
The Westboro
Baptist Church, which maintains the websites
GodHatesFags.com and GodHatesAmerica.com, plans to also
demonstrate outside the upcoming 80th annual Academy
Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. (The Advocate)
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