Badpuppy Gay Today

Tuesday, 29 April, 1997

Reverend Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, has found a home for his non-stop hate campaign against same-sex affection. While Network Solutions has rejected other inflammatory defaming of American citizens, such as "nigger.com," it has accepted Phelps' godhatesfags.com as constituting a legitimate expression of free thought. In response, GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is crying foul play.

Phelps' rantings remain, in fact, among the more outstanding examples of an aggressive and vicious backwoods brand of "Christian" ignorance, one running rampant in locales where thoughtless zealotry grows without being challenged. The Baptist clergyman's tirades, as most impartial observers agree, lack any semblance of Christian love or understanding, making his messages (godhatesfags.com) a prime example why ENDA (The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, now moving toward a spring debate for the second time in the U.S. Congress) is needed. "The religious right," says Martin Fressio, a Mid-westerner, "is quickly digging its own grave as it becomes more and more obvious that anti-gay crusaders like Phelps are giving other Christians a very bad name."

The Reverend Phelps is best known for having traveled long distances to picket at the funerals of young gay men who have died of AIDS, and for harassing their grieving parents with his loud assertions that their dead children have gone to hell where they are suffering eternal agony. GayToday quoted Phelps' Westboro Baptist bulletin on March 26: "Tax Exempt Hate Group Publishes Anti-Gay Bulletin."

CyberPromotions' official position is that censorship of any sort--even of hate promotionals-- is unacceptable. GLAAD's Loren Javier, interactive media director, says that he can accept this official position with grace, but Javier is baffled at the inconsistency that has been shown by Network Solutions. "We (GLAAD) actually respect CyberPromotions' policy more than we do (that of) Network Solutions, which is really very ambiguous and very hypocritical at times." Network Solutions insists that it has not taken a stand, when, according to Javier, it has.

CyberPromotions' president, Sanford Wallace, who claims he was unaware that CyberPromotions was hosting Phelps' tirades, says "we don't do censoring." Phelps has admitted he's had a difficult time finding a home for his messages, being kicked off other host sites, including Netgate. He has been quoted agonizing about his being unwelcome on the Internet:

"Blazing idiots like the Heaven's Gate people, they're welcome. They're wanted. Let the imagination go wild. But you start saying in simple, unambiguous language that homosexuals are the lowest form of humanity, bottom rung on human depravity, and are headed straight to hell...then all bets are off."

The Baptist parson insists he's had less trouble preaching on the Web site than when he makes forays to gay parades and funerals. "There," he explains, "they'll try to kill you."

Phelps appreciates any publicity he gets, he says, whether positive or negative. The bottom line is that any mention "helps draw attention to what we're saying." Similarly, CyberPromotions' Wallace reflects on the publicity Phelps gets his company in much the same way. Though many call Wallace "the junk mail king," his poor reputation, he thinks, at least helps people become more familiar with who he is and what he does.