Florida band stages protest to send a message from soldiers in Iraq
9:43 p.m. Sunday, June 18, 2006
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Topeka — This Father’s Day was a difficult one for Terry Stafford. Stafford’s son is a soldier serving in Afghanistan. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church did not make Sunday any easier for Stafford.
“He starts yelling at me from his porch that God is going to kill my son,” Stafford said. “You know how offensive that is to me? I want to know what I can do.”
A nearby officer told Stafford Fred Phelps and his followers were exercising freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech is the argument Phelps use when they travel the nation protesting at soldiers’ funerals.
The group said they do it to send the message that the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are an indication that God is angry with America for tolerating homosexuality. According to the group, today’s protest against their message actually helped spread the word.
“The only affect it has is drawing a nice sharp laser on our message,” Charles Hockenbarger, Westboro Baptist Church member, said. “We love that. The fact that these people think they can stand out here and somehow influence us and make us be quiet – it ain’t happening.”
But the band Biteboy said they’re going to try in honor of their friends serving overseas.
The idea is what prompted the band to travel to Topeka from Florida – to use their freedom of speech to fight back in the church’s neighborhood.
“I was willing to get arrested for this cause,” Rick Namey, Jr. Biteboy manager, said.
Find the Band
The band said they will post video from the protest on their myspace.com account by Monday morning, so the soldiers overseas can see they fulfilled their promise.
Topeka Police shut the concert down after only two songs. Members of Biteboy, and the community, said they hope Phelps heard their message loud and clear.
“We are going to show support for our military, our troops and to the families who have lost sons, brothers and dads,” Don Kitzman, Patriot Rider, said.
The Patriot Riders formed in response to the church’s protests. The group of motorcycle enthusiasts said they try to drown out the sound of Phelps protestors.
“We’re going to win the war, because Fred has his little speech,” Clarence Saunders, former Marine, said. “We have our voice, too.”
The riders led the way when the band moved to 21st and Gage to continue their protest against the Phelps protestors.
Comments
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Jun. 19, 2006 at 2:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)Linda (anonymous)
Fred Phelps would certainly love the notoriety of a yearly festival named after him. I sure hope they can come up with a better name.
From what I have observed during my life, the people who expressly voice a profound negative opinion about a particular lifestyle are hiding just that lifestyle. Perhaps Fred actually wears lace on his underpants.
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