‘God Hates Fags’ church returning to San Antonio
QSanAntonio.com, February 27, 2010

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, whose web site is named God Hates Fags.com, will return to San Antonio on March 27 to picket a local college production of the play "The Laramie Project."

The group was in town last August when they held a series of pickets at local churches, temples and an athletic competition for Jewish youth. (See photos and story below.)

"The Laramie Project" is the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay, 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. The play is being produced locally by Our Lady of the Lake University’s Drama Department from March 25 through 28 at the school’s Thiry Auditorium.

According to Westboro’s web site, the picket is scheduled at 7:15 p.m. at Our Lady of the Lake just as the audience for the production arrives for the 8:00 p.m. performance.

The Westboro web site posting goes on to say: "You will all be meeting to worship the little dumb ass Matthew Shepard getting slaughtered by his fellow meth-heads. Look at what this country's doing, you bunch of freaks have gone stark raving mad. You have substituted that really god-awful pail of pig slop called the ‘Laramie Project’ for just simply reading and obeying the Commandments of God."

Westboro pastor Fred Phelps preaches that homosexuality and its acceptance by society has doomed most of the world to eternal damnation. Phelps says that God will punish homosexuals as well as public figures like politicians, clergy and anyone else his church considers "fag-enablers."

Westboro pickets Temple Beth-El
Photos by Lauryn Farris, QSanAntonio.com, August 8, 2009

Seven members of the Westboro Baptist Church (top two rows), including three young boys and a young adult, picketed Temple Beth-El on Belknap Street in San Antonio on the afternoon of August 7. Their protest was one of about a half-dozen such pickets they planned on that day. (See story below.)

A counter demonstration of about 15 young people (bottom two rows) formed across the street. It is not clear what organization those demonstrators represented. Lauryn Farris, who took these photos says there were about a dozen police officers on the scene but the confrontation never got out of hand. Farris says the sole woman from the Westboro group kept calling the counter-demonstrators "dumb ass."

'God Hates Fags' church schedules three days of protests in S.A.
QSanAntonio.com, August 7, 2009

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, whose web site is named God Hates Fags.com, will be in San Antonio August 7 through 9 for a series of protests with the theme "You will eat your babies." The group will picket at churches, temples, the Bexar County Adult Detention Center and at an athletic competition for Jewish youth.

Westboro pastor Fred Phelps (pictured in photo at top) preaches that homosexuality and its acceptance by society has doomed most of the world to eternal damnation. Phelps says that God will punish homosexuals as well as public figures like politicians, clergy and anyone else his church considers "fag-enablers."

An article on the web site AllVoices.com reports that Phelps is bringing his protests to San Antonio "because when Baby Scotty was cut up and eaten by his mother, Otty Sanchez, she told the SAPD that the devil made her do it. And one of WBC's messages of hate is ‘You will eat your babies.’ So Phelps see this as praise from God, claiming that Baby Scotty is in hell, and that the mother is hell bound as well. They are also saying anyone who attends synagogues and churches in San Antonio are hell bound as well and that John Hagee (of the Cornerstone Church) is a lying whore."

Phelps’ church has 71 members, 60 of whom are related to him. They are well known for their protests at military funerals, gay pride events, high-profile political gatherings, and even Christian churches. In recent weeks Phelps was denied a visa to enter Great Britain where he planned to picket a production of "The Laramie Project," a play about the murder of Matthew Shepard.

Protests are scheduled in San Antonio on Friday, August 7 at the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Campus of the Jewish Community Center, Chabad Lubavitch of South Texas, Temple Beth-El, Baruch Hashem Messianic Congregation, Congregation Rodfei Sholom Synagogue, and the Bexar County Detention Center (where Otty Sanchez is imprisoned).

On Saturday, August 8 Phelps and his followers will protest a second time at Baruch Hashem Messianic Congregation, Temple Beth-El and the Rodfei Sholom Synagogue. They will also picket at the Prince of Peace Catholic Church.

On Sunday, August 9, the group be at the Castle Hills First Baptist Church, Oak Hills Church, Cornerstone Church, Prince of Peace Catholic Church (second time), and at the UTSA Convocation Center where the Maccabi Games, a sports competition for Jewish youth, is being held (see flier below).