TOPEKA, Kan. — The Westboro Baptist Church, home of anti-gay extremists and the “Gods Hate Fags” fundamentalist movement, announced plans to protest at the funeral of Elizabeth Taylor, who died early Wednesday.
In a statement issued on Westboro’s website, which was subsequently pulled after their servers crashed, church leader Fred Phelps said:
The death of Elizabeth Taylor provides yet more proof that Almighty God’s justice is divine and righteous, if not always swift. […]
Her efforts to thwart AIDS — a plague sent by God to wipe the unclean beasts from His grace — have been punished.
Ms. Taylor’s passage into Hell should also serve as a warning to all the Christ-killing Jews and queers and atheists in Hollywood. You are the measure of the company you keep…
Margie Phelps, daughter of Fred Phelps, tweeted obsessively on Wednesday, calling Taylor a “proud whore” and a “gay enabler” for her work in fighting HIV/AIDS.
Taylor, who worked tirelessly on behalf of AIDS-related charities and fund raising, helped start amfAR after her former co-star and friend, Rock Hudson, succumbed to AIDS. She created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation, and by 1999, had helped to raise an estimated $50 million to fight the disease.
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The Topeka-based church first gained national attention when, in 1998, they protested at the funeral of Matthew Shepard with signs that read “No Fags in Heaven” and “God Hates Fags.”
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the Westboro church would be allowed to picket funerals by relying on their First Amendment rights to free speech.
The Westboro church is not affiliated with the Baptist denomination or any other Baptist church. According to news reports, almost all of its members — fewer than 100 — are related to founder Fred Phelps either by blood or marriage.
