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Bearing signs that read "You Will Eat Your Babies" and "Fags Doom Nations," members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church showed up at gay-friendly The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in the West Village ready to give its members a piece of their mind. Westboro member Steve Drane told NY1, "Anywhere where God's word needs to be preached to an unrepentant generation, that's where we'll be." This weekend marks the first that the church led by Fred Phelps is expanding its anti-gay crusade to now include Jews as well, for reasons such as their exceeding tolerance of homosexuality and abortion to their lack of repentance for killing Christ. While only a handful of Westboro members made it out today, hundreds including Speaker Christine Quinn faced off with them in a counter-protest, where members of the temple were encouraged to keep their message positive when addressing the visitors, particularly while speaking to the press.
Westboro Church Comes to West Village to Protest Gays, Jews
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I can't wait till Fred Phelps dies, the whole group will disintegrate and the world will be a better place.
I don't know. He's kind of keeping all the Ugly condensed in one simple, easy-to follow location. Once he goes, all these nutcases will fan out and become a lot less visible. At least right now, we know where they are.
And we can laugh and laugh and laugh at them, until of course we die and find out they were right, and then who'll be laughing? Huh?
I'm kidding. I'm totally sure that's not going to happen.
I think we really need to 'respect diversity of opinion'.
I very rarely want to physically hurt people, but I'd love to take a baseball bat to this guy.
I bet they jump on Catholics next.
I hear they are dining at Hooters tonight and then off to the off Broadway peep shows.
I hear the West Village is especially demon-possessed at night. The best way to ward off the homos is to wear ipods and always be on your Blackberry or iphone. happy hunting!
I wish it was okay to start turning a fire hose on these people. Not that I like wasting water or anything, but those things hurt a lot.
So... are they going to stay through next weekend and will they be at the pride parade and such? That can't end well...
It's been a while since I was in Catholic school, but I remember something about the Romans being the guilty pasty in the whole nailing Jesus to the cross incident.
God is not hate and they are misguided but Quinn does not have right to speak about the community when she overturn the will of the people for her OWN self interest. Quinn should be voted out.
Can you blame the WBC? The only way to survive in this economy is to diversify your product line. Just make sure quality doesn't fall by the wayside.
Does Howard Stern ever have them on anymore?
While I too eagerly await the day when Fred Phelps goes to his long-overdue resting place in the 9th circle, it occurs to me that actually this is the best possible place for these loons.
They're drawing only derision, are a potential tourist attraction, and every day they spend hanging around the Village is a day they're not screaming hate during military funerals.
I say they should stay as long as possible, as a 3rd rate addition to New York's existing stable of crazies.
> is a day they are notscreaming hate during military funerals.
totally agree.
I would hope for crowds against them drowning them completely out. They must be staying nearby and taking meals here, so their money is contributing to the area in some way.
The First Amendment applies to all. Good to see protests on each side of the issue.
Counter protesters should have just played Lewis Black's bit over the loudspeakers and have people taking turns monitoring it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-id4GKsaQk