When Allen Smith came to Center Church in Hartford on Palm Sunday, he was
shocked at seeing a small band of pickets behind barricades - jeering at
congregants and denouncing gays and lesbians.
The signs they carried used epithets to proclaim God hates homosexuals. Their
signs also said "God Hates America" and "Thank God for Sept.
11," a reference to the protesters' belief that Sept. 11 was some sort of
judgment.
"Get out of here! You're ridiculous!" Smith said, striding up to
police barricades and then walking away.
"This is a sacred holiday," said Smith, a Newington resident.
"We're an open and affirming church, and God loves gays and lesbians. Why
should we respect a hate group?"
The protesters were members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a church based in
Topeka, Kan., and led by Pastor Fred Phelps, who gained national notoriety for
shouting anti-gay epithets during the funeral of Matthew Shepard. Shepard was a
Wyoming college student who was beaten to death in 1998 because he was gay.
Church members, many of whom are relatives of Phelps', travel the country
demonstrating against gay rights. On Sunday, about 10, including a few
children, picketed churches in Hartford and Southington.
Phelps himself was protesting in Iowa City, Iowa. But his daughter, Shirley
Phelps Roper, and three of her sons - Zachariah, 12, Isaiah, 14, and Gabriel, 8
- were among those at Center Church. The children held anti-gay signs,
including one that read, "Matt - 4 years in Hell."
The group sang their own lyrics of "God Hates America," to the tune
of "God Bless America," as churchgoers walked past. They chose to
picket Center Church/First Church of Christ because it is "open and
affirming" of its gay and lesbian members.
The group picketed at St. Dominic Catholic Church and St. Paul's Episcopal
church in Southington in the early morning, before arriving at Center Church
about 10 a.m. They later moved on to St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church in
Hartford.
Westboro Church members, who say they have conducted nearly 22,000 such
protests over the past decade, apparently were drawn to Connecticut by a
proposal that would have extended essentially all the rights of marriage to gay
and lesbian couples. A legislative committee voted down the measure last week.
Churches were notified of the planned picketing early last week, when they were
faxed fliers filled with slurs against priests, nuns and homosexuals.
Many people who attended Center Church Sunday were members of other churches.
"We came to support Center Church, they should not have to stand alone in
face of this," said Maggie O'Neill a Unitarian-Universalist church member
from Wallingford. "And I came to show support because I love my gay
son."
The Rev. Richard Sherlock, who stood outside and shook hands as people entered
the church for its service, called the protest "a test of
faithfulness."
"We are open and affirming to all persons regardless of race, gender or
income. They are invited to be full members of this church," he said.
As services began at Center Church, the protesters moved on to St. Patrick-St.
Anthony Church. There, six teens from Ellington High School stood silently in
front of the church dressed in white angel costumes with broad wings. The
students were members of a recent production of the "Laramie
Project," a play about Shepard's murder.
"We learned to be more accepting and caring people, and that it is
important to send that message. If you don't, things like [the Shepard] case
will happen," said Stefanie Kennedy, 16, who wore an angel costume.
The Rev. James Hynes, during a previous Mass, had told the congregation
"that this day we would face an extreme of hatred."
"As we depart, let us be people of faith and love and go peacefully to our
cars and home," he said. Many parishioners ignored the protesters Sunday.
Shirley Phelps Roper claimed that the Columbia shuttle disaster, the Rhode
Island nightclub fire and Sept. 11 were "signs from God that this nation is
doomed."
Many Catholic priests are "practicing homosexuals, and that activity is an
abomination," Roper said during a telephone interview Saturday. "We
picket Methodist, Episcopal and main-line churches because they have forsaken
their faith and are pushing a homosexual agenda."