Members of an
antigay church best known across the United States for
picketing the funerals of U.S. soldiers say Republican
presidential candidate Fred Thompson once ''saw eye to
eye'' with them on homosexuality. The Westboro Baptist
Church is urging Thompson to support its stance.
The church has
angered lawmakers in several states by rallying at
soldiers' funerals, claiming the deaths are retribution for
the United States' acceptance of homosexuality.
Thompson campaign
spokeswoman Karen Hanretty on Wednesday dismissed the
church as ''a radical fringe group, looking to draw
attention to themselves.''
''Their behavior
at the funerals of fallen soldiers is disgraceful and
reprehensible,'' she said. ''In no way do these people share
Fred's values.''
Church members
released an open letter to Thompson this week, saying he
had once discussed his views on homosexuality with them
while handling the mid-1980s case of a woman who had
sued Kansas's Republican attorney general for sexual
harassment. Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro
founder Fred Phelps, recommended him for the case.
''We know what
your position used to be on the homosexual question -- and
it was wonderful, and we saw eye to eye,'' church members
said in the letter.
But that
statement appears to conflict with Margie Phelps's comments
to the Journal-World newspaper of Kansas in
June about her interaction with Thompson. ''I'm quite
confident he would've completely disagreed with
everything about my faith,'' she told the paper.
Phelps's sister,
Shirley Phelps-Roper, said in a phone interview
Wednesday that while Thompson might disagree with the church
today, he did not disagree then.
And yet
Phelps-Roper said, ''he wouldn't dare stand up and say that
when he's running for president.''
Thompson, a
former U.S. senator, has said he favors a constitutional
amendment that bars judges from legalizing same-sex marriage
but would leave the door open for state legislatures
to act. (AP)
