Fred Phelps, founder of the virulently antigay Westboro Baptist Church, notorious for its “God Hates Fags” protests at numerous funerals and concerts, is “near the edge of death” in a Topeka, Kansas hospice, according to a Facebook message posted by his son Nathan Phelps.
Nathan, who split from the church in 1976 and eventually became an LGBT and child abuse advocate in Canada, also reveals that his 84-year-old father was ex-communicated from Westboro last August, but doesn’t reveal the reason.
Phelps writes:
I’ve learned that my father, Fred Phelps, Sr., pastor of the “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church, was ex-communicated from the “church” back in August of 2013. He is now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice house in Topeka, Kansas.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made.
I feel sad for all the hurt he’s caused so many. I feel sad for those who will lose the grandfather and father they loved. And I’m bitterly angry that my family is blocking the family members who left from seeing him, and saying their good-byes.
The Topeka Capital-Journal confirmed the news through Mark Phelps, another son estranged from WBC. Additionally, a spokesman for Westboro Baptist Church confirmed Sunday that Phelps Sr. is a patient in the Midland Care Hospice in Topeka.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
The actions of Westboro under the leadership of Phelps Sr. led to federal and state laws restricting protests during military funerals. Last week, U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr.ruled to uphold a Missouri law which requires protesters to stay at least a the length of a football field away from funeral sites, starting an hour before the service until an hour after it ends.
fredbear
Of course we WILL picket HIS funeral, and my partner, Mike had a great idea. We should all carry marshmallows and throw them at the hearse for him to use when he gets to hell.
SteveDenver
What a shame that he’s dying alone.
Tommysole
Like anyone is really going to miss this asshole?
Cam
It is so karmic that this man who spent his life selling hatred was…in his final days kicked out of the church he founded and is dying alone in a hospice.
Mdterp01
@fredbear:
I understand the need to want to do that since he organized the protests at the funerals of others, but why even waste your energy on such scum? His funeral should have as little attention as possible. I know it would be the ultimate “turnabout is fair play” but this bastard should just die and it be a blip. No one’s funeral in my opinion, not even his, should be desecrated, and I think it would make a larger statement that no one stoops to his lowly level by picketing his funeral.
enfilmigult
@fredbear: Yeah, I’m with Mdterp01. Last thing I’d want to do is confirm the WBC’s fantasies that the rest of the world genuinely gives a crap about them. Plus it would kind of invalidate the whole point of picketing funerals being awful, awful thing to do, which it is, no matter whose. The rainbow house across from their HQ is a much better form of revenge methinks.
tardis
What a complicated and sad situation these family members face. I feel sorry for him. Death is never easy. I wish Nathan the best.
redcarpet
His own church kicked him out?! WTF happened?
His Daughter has shown she’ll keep the wheels turning. We haven’t seen the last of them. Although this plus those two grandkids that jumped ship are sure making them look like they are crumbling from within.
Stache1
@tardis: I sure don’t. This monster was abusive to his family and like his son said brought allot of pain on many others and did it with glee.
dougmc92
why waste the energy- because his disciples are still protesting at other people’s funerals- it’s important they know what that feels like- might be only way to get them to understand- although, I wouldn’t be at all suprised if it doesn’t impact them at all!
Stache1
@IvanPH: Ha. That was cute what you did there and yes I agree:)
hyhybt
Why stoop to his level?
—
While there is life, there is hope for a change of heart.
Dakotahgeo
News flash from Heaven! The entire band of over 2 billion Angels and Archangels were heard to say, at the news of Phreddy’s imminent arrival…
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww, SHIT!!!…. and they immediately resigned their positions!
Steve Rider
Fred Phelps inspired me to create a number of websites in the genre “God Hates…”
Using the same source documents as Fred, I discovered that
God Hates Barbers
God Hates Brats
God Hates Crustaceans
God Hates Equal Rights
God Hates Mixed Fibers
God Hates Pork
God Hates Vaginas
These all still exist as .com domains.
I also said I would visit his grave after drinking large amounts of liquids, but witrh the drought here in California it’s better to recycle my urine locally.
sfbeast
Good bye. Hurry up and die.
Captain proton
De mortuis nil nisi bonum
sailor374
What I want to know is, why was he excommunicated? Seems like that fact would be as big a story as his dying? Seriously does anyone know any of that part of the story? I havent found any explanations on any news stories about this. He had to have done something for those nutcases to cast him out.
Steve Rider
@sailor374:
In a perfect Universe he would have been discovered in bed with another man.
glitterbang
This is a day I’ve long been awaiting. A gay friend once said to me that he doubted God could exist simply because Fred Phelps was alive so long when wonderful people all around us were dying of disease and senseless murder. He said this at the time of the Newtown elementary school shooting. And there’ve been many days when I’ve woken up and my mind asks, “Hmm…..I wonder if today is the day Fred Phelps will die.” Not because I’M a hateful man, but because HE is. History has shown that cults formed around a sole figure tend to disintegrate after that person’s death and certainly although their hate will live on, Westboro will lose their newsworthy edge after he’s gone.
Caleb in SC
We needn’t give these people any more attention or energy than they deserve. Ignore them and they will all eventually go away or die off. Remember: Westboro can only affect our lives to the extent we let them. I say everyone let the man be buried in peace, have a quiet get together with a few close friends, drink lots of wine, possibly engage in some sodomy and then forget they even existed.
GeriHew
@sailor374: I bet his brood had to excommunicate Fred when he finally came out to them as a bisexual.
Greg
How does one get ex-communicated from his own church?
hyhybt
@Steve Rider: in a perfect universe, he and his wouldn’t be like they are in the first place.
Dakotahgeo
@sailor374: I live in the vicinity of Topeka, KS and honestly, NO ONE was aware of this at all until yesterday. It was known that we hadn’t heard from ol’ Phreddy for months and he rarely attended any rallies that his relatives staged. So, I suppose this would have been a sign, but for those of us who wanted nothing to do with this clan, it was also news. Maybe the old goat finally abused the family enough to where they said, BASTA! (Enough!).
jkb
…hmmm,will we find out where he is going to be buried? I’d love to go fuck a few random tricks on top of his grave.
sprocket
The only thing this man gets from me is pity. I hope the other family members in the church (not the good ones who left) see this as an example of the path they’re on.
BigWoody
I hypothesize that when the church found out Fred was dying, they strategically ex-communicated him so the church would not be held responsible for paying his enormous medical bills.
Those who believe “ol’ Phreddy” will be allowed through the pearly gates of a mythological heaven have genetically inferior brains and are being left behind by evolution.
Steve Rider
@hyhybt:
Of course you are correct
damendo
Surely Freddie is going to Hell. Of course his Hell is living in eternity with Rupauls Drag Queens sponge bathing him every day, having episodes of QAF playing 24 hours a day in his head, and leading Hells version of the Folsom St. Fair as Grand Marshal Leather Daddy! Enjoy your eternity Fred.
thenameismatt
Cool.
Goforit
As I do not adhere to the concept of an afterlife as professed by many of our modern religions. Bur rather hope that we are punished or rewarded for our actions during our lifetime. I sincerely hope that he dies a slow, painful, lonely death deserving of a hateful, fame hungry whore that he is. No offence meant to those in the escort business.
HirsuteOne
Go to the light. Definitely go to the light.
hotshot70
He will go to the light. A bright, red one with a lot of heat and a very “horn”-y host! Gay communities ought to protest his funeral. He had his group around many funerals of gay and gay allies. Tit for tat. I know it is not good to be so callous about him, but after the hate he generated, kharma is coming back on him and his group of nut jobs.
David6
The world will be a far better place when this evil hate filled man has passed away.
Allen D.
Saw this article posted on another website’s thread and haven’t been able to put it down. It quotes Nate and Mark quite a bit —
http://blank.org/addict/
The guy is sicker and more twisted that I would have even guessed. Good Lord! Screw the high road, I’ll be celebrating when that dick finally croaks.
D P
@Steve Rider said: “In a perfect Universe he would have been discovered in bed with another man.”
Sorry, Steve. That is not a perfect universe. Consider the man Phelps was in bed with. Ugh. Poor guy. Imagine of all the billions of men in the world, you were the one in bed with Fred Phelps, and you got caught! Ugh.
Cam
I wonder how he is explaining the erections he gets every time his male nurse gives him a sponge bath.
Cam
Oh and lastly,
Perhaps we should thank him. He put such an ugly face on bigotry that even the folks over at FOX had to dance around and condemn this church.
Mikey
I think the best form of protest would be to do nothing. 1) It’d show that we’re the better people, and 2) it would show goodness that people in his cult think we lack.
Dakotahgeo
@Mikey: I think you have the best solution to the ultimate passing of this scoundrel. Kudos to those who have also posted positive reactions to Phelp’s imminent demise.
HirsuteOne
“Reports” are beginning to surface of a “I’m gay” pre-death confession.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/lauren-drain-westboro-baptist-church-fred-phelps-gay-experience_n_2877987.html
Greg
@Cam: There’s a slight difference – in degree of hate – from the anti-gay hatred of his church to the anti-gay hatred of other so-called “Christian” organizations and leaders such as Tony Perkins and Bryan Fischer (and for that matter the RCC). They are all detestable and showcase the underlying evil of their stance. Focus on the Family is at its core built on the same hatred as Westboro.
GeriHew
@HirsuteOne: Having a homosexual experience doesn’t make a person gay anymore than having a heterosexual experience makes a person straight.
Lauren Drain is clearly still brainwashed to a significant degree by Fred Phelps’ psychotic idiocy, as well as being influenced by the monosexist stupidity of American society as a whole.
That said, do I think Fred Phelps is queer? Yes. Obviously he’s queer.
Horse Lips
If anyone deserves a long, slow, painful death it’s this guy.
HirsuteOne
@GeriHew:
Thank you for your most astute opinion.
Vatican Lokey
I don’t believe it behooves any of us to do anything at all once Mr. Phelps dies. Not because he and his “church” are rapidly becoming irrelevant, or even as a response to the wretched actions he and his lamentable family have perpetrated against others over the years.
We do nothing because we are nothing like him or any of his followers. We do nothing because nothing in our lives or values approaches the level of hatred and misogyny with which he lived. We do nothing because there is nothing to be done but wait and let it happen. And when he is gone we move forward and close the book on all of it. I am reminded of the last stanza of Sir Walter Scott’s poem “Breathes There a Man”:
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonor’d, and unsung.
Cam
@Greg: said…
“@Cam: There’s a slight difference – in degree of hate – from the anti-gay hatred of his church to the anti-gay hatred of other so-called “Christian” organizations and leaders such as Tony Perkins and Bryan Fischer (and for that matter the RCC). They are all detestable and showcase the underlying evil of their stance. Focus on the Family is at its core built on the same hatred as Westboro
__________________________________
Hi Greg, I dissagree. Somebody saying “I hate you, and I want to take your rights away” isn’t any different then somebody smiling and saying “Oh, I don’t hate you, but I want to take your rights away”.
The phony smiliing bigots couldn’t get away with it as much because Phelps showed the world their true face.
kthcst
I say…..THIS COULD NOT have happened to a better person…..burn in hell bitch
Dakotahgeo
@Vatican Lokey: WOW!! Well quoted, well thought, well said. Thank you!
Texan78730
Isn’t it great to read some uplifting news occasionally?
Mdterp01
Welp……he dead!
Vatican Lokey
@Dakotahgeo: Thank you, you’re very kind.