The religious right always says that their hate-wrapped-in-God, their protests of our troops' funerals (because, get this, America is too gay so they're protesting our dead soldiers) is protected by freedom of religion. The religious also argues that their right to fire gays from a job simply because their gay, their right to not rent an apartment or sell a home to gays, is all protected by their freedom of religion (no word on how they feel about the religious justification for discrimination against Jews or blacks - they're awfully silent on that one, what a surprise). Well, now a court has found against them to the tune of $11m.
See, it wasn't government incompetence that caused the bridge to collapse in Minneapolis. According to the beyond whacko Phelps clan, Minnesota is too gay friendly:
The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., plans to stage protests at funerals of victims of the 35W bridge collapse to state that God made the bridge fall because he hates America, and especially Minnesota, because of its tolerance of homosexuality.
The church and its pastor, the Rev. Fred Phelps, have become notorious over recent years for their claim that the attack of 9/11 was an act of God's vengeance and their determination to make that case at the funerals of U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq.
Oh, Fred and his family were notorious way, way before that. But, you know, at least Fred is clear about his hatred of gays. Cause you have to wonder what the agenda is for the other homophobes -- who also hate gays, btw.
It's perhaps no surprise that their hate knows no bounds. No surprise that the gay-hating religious right finds kinship with the kind of hatred (and insanity) that took the lives of 33 innocents at Virginia Tech. Hate is universal, and to the religious right, it's next to godliness. More from Andy Towle.
