Tyra Banks hosted a show recently with part of the Phelps family. I've been following this family for quite a few years. My interest was sparked at first in October of 1998 when two men, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, lured 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay student from the University of Wyoming, away from a bar in Laramie. They drove him to a remote area and beat him until he was unconscious. He was left to die in near freezing temperatures. He hung there for 18 hours before being discovered by a passing cyclist. He died four days later. It was the first time I began to experience strong emotions for those who experience hate crimes. My passion was enraged when during Shepard’s funeral while more than 800 mourners attended the funeral in Casper, Wyoming, a dozen antigay protesters from Kansas and Texas stood outside the funeral holding protest signs stating "God Hates Fags" and “Matt in Hell.” They were the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) a controversial conservative right wing organization from Kansas led by Pastor Fred Phelps. The WBC picketed outside holding signs stating “Matt in Hell” and “God Hates Fags”. This controversial tactic sparked nationwide attention, because essentially Phelps was welcoming murder.

Phelps and his group are known world wide for spreading their message of hate. They adamantly espouse the belief that god hates homosexuals, using manipulative tactics such as picketing the gay community at events worldwide and the funerals of gay people.

I did a research study in the Summer of 2004 to find out how these types of belief systems can have an effect on public policy and I found that often policies can come into being through religious influence.

For the five-year anniversary of Shepard’s death, Phelps had sent plans to the city council of Shepard’s hometown Casper Wyoming to erect a monument that would be 6 feet tall and made of marble, bearing a bronze plaque with the image of Shepard and an inscription

The inscription stated "Matthew Shepard, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."


His proposal was based on the fact that a Ten Commandments monument was displayed on public property, which essentially meant that according to law it must also allow monuments with views of other religions or political groups on that same property. Though the council voted to remove the commandments monument, Phelps was relentless to get his plaque in place.

In his goal of spreading his message of hate and placing the shrine to Matthews’s murder in a public place, Phelps targeted dozens of other cities in the US that had Ten Commandments monuments.

I did my study on the rise and fall of this policy item in Boise, Idaho. Boise had a public display of the commandments monument that was donated in 1965 in a public park. In my study I interviewed the key players involved in the controversy that led to the removal of the commandments. My analysis was also developed through analyzing newspaper articles from the time the issue began in Wyoming..

One of the things that always shocked me about the WBC was that it consisted of the Phelps family and but a few other members related mostly by marriage. Phelps has bred an entire family of lawyers who work adamantly to advocate that gay people are going to hell. Twelve total family members still practice in Phelps Chartered. Tyra Banks was obviously as enthralled with the family as I have been. She invited three members of the family on her show and you can see the hate in their eyes. They grandchildren of Phelps are so filled with rage and intolerance, I wonder if they are even sane. They call anyone who supports homosexuality “fag enablers” and they don’t even realize that they are preaching hate. They are brainwashed. I don’t know what twisted bible studies classes these cats were taking, but from my understanding God never said go out and picket those who were murdered. God also never told these people to “hate thy neighbor”. These people are obviously very lost and confused. And to top it off they continue to spread their hate by breeding miniature haters who will carry on their message. It’s quite possible that Fred Phelps is mentally ill. He was disbarred for his bad legal practices and 4 of his 13 children have disowned him due to the massive child abuse they endured growing up. So Fred Phelps is an intolerant, bigot, who beats his children…and yet he and his family continue to practice law and spread the “word of god”.