Preaching to the choirboys
In the last issue of fab, Alistair Newton wrote a cheeky and fictitious open invitation to notorious U.S. homophobe Fred Phelps and his inbred hate collective known as the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). In the letter Alistair mused that it would be entertaining to have them in attendance for his new play, “The Pastor Phelps Project,” a cabaret that uses Phelps’ own words as a springboard to explore religious fundamentalism. He never imagined, in a million years, that they would ever show up.

Days before that issue even hit the stands, a shocking declaration was made on Phelps’ charmingly laughable godhatesfags.com website. They’d found out about the play and would be in attendance to picket it. “The Pastor Phelps Project is a tacky bit of filthy sodomite propaganda, with no literary merit and zero redeeming social value, masquerading as legitimate theater. It is of the fags, by the fags, and for the fags,” decreed their official press release. You just can’t buy reviews so juicy and, just like that, the game was on. Seeing a golden opportunity to remind Canadians that we aren’t impervious to the religious intolerance seething in the Southern U.S., I wrote up a quick press release. Within three hours of its release Alistair and I were contacted by a slew of media outlets for comment while word spread virally through the queer and activist communities who began to form a counter-protest.

Meanwhile in the press, Phelps’ daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper spouted obscene hate babble going as far as blaming the tragic Winnipeg Greyhound beheading on Canada’s pro-gay stance and announcing a picket of the victim’s funeral. This sent people into a frenzy pushing the play out of the limelight. Message boards, articles and TV segments were now awash with demands that the Canadian government stop the Phelps gang at the border and rightfully so. But it’s interesting to note that the group who created godhatesfags.com weren’t given this treatment immediately by the general public given WBC’s track record. It took the threat of an action so cut and dry crazy to motivate them. The similarity between the under the radar gay-related WBC pickets in the States and the Bush administration’s headline grabbing legal action preventing them from picketing soldier’s funerals however seems apparent. When we queers flaunt our opinions through outlets like theatre and art we seem, to most, to invite persecution and come off less sympathetic. Protests at funerals are worse than protests at plays but both are stomach churning.

When the call was put out on Facebook to rally bodies in solidarity, Globe and Mail writer Bert Archer commented on the event writing, “Why on earth would you even bother? Really. It’s like seeing a guy with a sandwich board saying the end is nigh, and going out to get your own sandwich board saying it’s not.” Apparently, he like many apathetic post-gay queers, sees no point in simply supporting local artists when homophobic assholes threaten to show up and harass them. There are many other causes in the queer community worthy of protest but I haven’t heard a real organized call to picket in years. Those who say our time would be better spent should learn how to write a good press release instead of complaining. None of the more than 150 counter-protestors who attended thought they’d change the WBC’s mind or that they were solely responsible for revealing the insanity of Phelps’ message. In the end the WBC didn’t get across the border but I have them to thank for the feeling of community I felt during the whole event. Signs that read “My Canada includes sodomy” standing unopposed on the evening news pleased me more than laughing at the religious right ever could have.

Matt Thomas
Associate Editor
editor@fabmagazine.com