A family that hates together stays together, so what will become of Twitter celebrity Megan Phelps now that she’s free from the grip of the Westboro Baptist Church? We think she’s on the fast track to having a new gay BFF.
The 24-year-old granddaughter of Westboro founder Fred Phelps—who you may know as the songstress that hated fags and Lady Gaga—has officially left the church, although we suspected deviance once she stopped tweeting back in October. Learning how badly she’s tattered her own public image the hard way, Phelps quotes Batman (yeah, it’s true) in the first paragraph of the blog post that announced her new life: “There’s no fresh start in today’s world. Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what you did. Everything we do is collated and quantified. Everything sticks.”
Now considered a “betrayer” by her family, she articulated her shocking new revelation more clearly to Fast Company Editor Jeff Chu:
“I don’t feel confident at all in my beliefs about God. That’s definitely scary. But I don’t believe anymore that God hates almost all of mankind. I don’t think that, if you do everything else in your life right and you happen to be gay, you’re automatically going to hell. I don’t believe anymore that WBC has a monopoly on truth.”
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It’s easy to shame Megan for the damage she’s done to the world in general, but she’s confident God’s forgiveness is on her side. Will the gays be as forgiving?
BritAus
One down sweeties.
JonahM01
She’s just as irrelevant as she ever was. Yawn.
MickeyP.
Come on people. Give her a chance. The girl was raised by the fools at the WBC! It was drilled into her head,all her life,to hate everyone. Give her a shot to prove that she has changed her attitude.It seems to me that we all want a second chance for mistakes we have made.Why not give her the same consideration?Just a thought….
Chad Hunt
All it takes is for one person to reach these people. One down about half the population to go.
Aidan8
W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R
Truth Addict
My heart goes out to her, because she is being ostracized by her family for speaking the the truth. It’s a very courageous thing she has done. She is being rejected by her family much like gay children get rejected by their families. I hope she has peace in her heart. People shouldn’t have to suffer like this.
asa1973
I’ve always been gay. But I also used to be hyper-religious, judgmental, homophobic, and really nasty to people I perceived to be gay. Luckily, I came out pretty early in my life, but I don’t think without doing some damage. If I can accept myself, realize and atone for my mistakes, and be accepted by the gay community, I think I can welcome someone when they finally awaken to error of their ways.
Isn’t this what we want? Don’t we want these people to wake up? I would embrace her. I would show her that I am not as hateful as the people who raised her. I would help her see that I am human, not an abomination.
I say this is a successful story.
the other Greg
I hadn’t heard about this, but I think it’s great. She is like some of the born-and-raised Scientologists who are now falling away and telling their stories (only her story is worse!). She should be welcomed.
vklortho
I like to think everyone is capable of redemption. At least she is off to a good start by leaving those assholes.
GreatGatsby2011
Good for you, Megan! It’s very hard to drag yourself out of a pit of hatred and ignorance when that’s all you’ve ever known. Continue on the path you’ve set and your light can shine brighter than you’d ever thought possible.
imperator
How can we [i]not[/i] try to be understanding? She was brainwashed from the time her brain came into the world, cloistered with insane people and force-fed a steady diet of their stupidity. That she’s developed the cognitive capacity to question and doubt and break away from them at all– that she found the opportunity to free her own mind from their nonsense while surrounded by it all-round– is frankly wondrous, and I hope she finds a way to be a contributing member of society. She was another kind of victim, and if we can’t dispense compassion for people who’ve suffered then what claim do we have to any when we suffer?
1EqualityUSA
Let the healing begin. Good work Megan.
Enrico_Sly
I really have to laugh at people on here you brush this off and say who cares. In some sense, this woman (and her sister) have come out against the most brutal right wing oppressive childhood imaginable. Not come out as a homosexual, but as a rational thinking creature moving on from, and dismissing everything she grew up with. Her relatives didn’t disown her, she disowned them. All of them. Her whole support system.
I say this is monumental win for rationality in this world, as any individual enlightenment is.
Enrico_Sly
who brush*
Geoff B
I can’t imagine the childhood she’s had. Hate has been all she’s known her whole life and she still found the strength to walk away from it. My hat’s off to her. That one step is a bigger step towards decency than many people will ever take. I hope this isn’t the last story like this.
Greg Garavani
I think this is great for her, I can’t believe some of the responses I’ve read, then again I know how some of you divas can be. Come to think of it, most of my now current friends weren’t always ‘fag-enablers’, then they finally realized that their ignorance was the problem. She obviously realizes what she’s done wrong and I think we should show her acceptance. Everyone has that ex-homophobic friend, I doubt anyone here isn’t guilty.
2eo
Walking away from such an abusive environment after years of brainwashing and violent abuse as a child, and probably sexual abuse too is an enormous step forward, not just for her sanity.
It is a step forward because it shows that people will walk away from these extremists, they can be integrated and work with society, they need not be pariahs forever. Anyone willing to walk away from such hate after such a horrific life and accept they were wrong in their words and actions takes incredible courage.
The fact some people here like Aidan8 and JonahM01 are not representative of the actual members of our community who are educated and understand the situation for what it is. If we aren’t willing to at least listen then we become no intellectually better than the closed minded bigots we loathe.
Billysees
@asa1973: 7
Pretty nice testimony.
gaym50ish
What’s scary is that the Phelps family indoctrinates the children in the clan at such a young age. In the documentary about them, little kids were mouthing the hate speech of their parents. I witnessed one Phelps protest where a little girl about 9 years old was standing by Margie Phelps and was carrying one of their hateful signs. I’m sure that Megan grew up the same way, and I’m glad she has outgrown the indoctrination she undoubtedly received.
She’s not the first to leave the flock. Nate Phelps, Fred’s son, has been estranged from the family for years. In fact, he says, his father regularly beat his 13 children, four of whom have left.
Nate told an audience in 2009, “Currently, images of my nieces and nephews carrying signs with hateful messages flash across the media. All of these young children are deliberately placed in harm’s way by those who are charged with their safety.”
As Maya Angelou has said, you have to be TAUGHT to hate. Kids do not come by it naturally.
gwydion
It took a while, but we eventually forgave Donna Summer. But not before she became a super-advocate. I’m sure Little Miss WBC can do the same and we MIGHT forgive her her trespasses in 20 years or so.
Dionte
She was brainwashed from a young age, I’ll forgive her.
buffy123
I’ll forgive her. I’d much rather have her on my side now spreading a message of acceptance and love. It’s way better than her standing on a corner with offensive signs yelling to me that I’m evil. Welcome aboard, Megan. Drag as many friends of yours with you as you like.
dvlaries
I’ll forgive you Megan. Welcome to the messy, real world. I’m 58, and if I had to defend many of my opinions and choices at 24 and younger, I’d crumble. Stay brave, your awakening is sure to open another mind and heart, and then another and another.
Globaltraveler
This is all very complicated, yes they were born and raised in a cult. Yes they acted like ignorant bigots. Wonderful that they’ve began to see the error of their ways.
And yet….whatever…..
I don’t believe that this epiphany was brought about by someone saying: ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’ Is it her contention that this was the first time she’d ever heard this particular passage? I’m least amongst biblical scholars, and even I have known of that one for years.
My guess is that it’s probably more along the lines of them coming to the realization that no one outside their own idiot family shares their beliefs, and that their opportunities to socialize were going to be greatly compromised unless they changed their views. Plus, they probably weren’t all that turned on by the idea of inbreeding, which is apparently how Phelps got most of his congregation.
So I think their turnaround is more about their own selfish needs than suddenly becoming inclusive and less judgmental. Forgiveness isn’t a foregone conclusion just because someone asks for it. I completely understand someone willing to forgive these two because that’s the easiest thing for them to do. I also understand someone who simply can’t make that leap because of the hurt that has been heaped upon them.
I have seen these people in action, in person. Another poster is right. It’s something that takes on an entirely different dimension when witnessed live and in (neon) color. I’m a grown man and my self esteem is in no way tied to the opinions of these morons. But the looks on the faces of some young gay men and women as they were harassed was stunning.
They are going to have to do a lot more than issue a standard apology before they earn the right to reenter civilized society.
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot to mention. I hope the rest of that clan falls into a wood chipper.
LadyL
@Truth Addict: No she shouldn’t, but then again now she has an idea of the pain she, in the company of her demented family, has inflicted upon others. Growth is painful.
1EqualityUSA
I grew up in a family that adored Labradors and thought cats were worthless. All my life I just “knew” cats were worthless. Years ago, I met my partner, who had two of them. For about a month we just watched each other and then the girl cat decided she liked me a lot. I had no choice in the matter. Now I adore cats. My Girlie-Q’s are bonded sisters who take turns scoring morning lap time, shoulder time, sometimes both. My spouse is jealous. Cats aren’t worthless. They have personalities and communicate very well. Maybe Megan met gays out on their hate brigades and realized that cats aren’t worthless and LGBT’ers are nice. I hope she heals from these twisted preconceptions. My cat is meowing. Got to go.
KARUADAM
Once a fucking Christian BITCH, always fucking Christian BITCH!!.
Billysees
@Enrico_Sly: 13
Very well said.
Your last sentence is best.
Billysees
@1EqualityUSA: 26
A real nice story.
SkeeterVT
Thank God that Megan Phelps-Roper came to her senses and realized that the homophobic hate ideology of Westboro was — and is — an affront to God’s unconditonal love. Hving said that, I still say that it’s time to stop calling Wesboro a church and start calling it what it really is: A cult.
Billysees
@SkeeterVT: 30
…stop calling Wesboro a church…
Amen