You know, I genuinely find Fred Phelps entertaining. I know he’s a bigot and a hatemonger. I know his positions are unsupportable, and hurtful to some. I know what he says is utterly ridiculous, on so many levels. But that makes Phelps - as Chief Nut at the ‘God Hates Fags‘ camp - worthy of ridicule rather than carefully considered retort.

I wasn’t surprised when Phelps’ organisation, WBC (Westboro Baptist Church), decided to picket Heath Ledger’s funeral. Here’s what their flyer says:

“Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger is dead. WBC will picket his funeral. Yes. WBC will picket this pervert’s funeral in religious protest and warning. Ledger thought it was great fun defying God Almighty and his plain word; to wit, God hates fags and fag-enablers! Ergo, God hates the sordid, tacky bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known as ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and he hates all persons having anything whatsoever to do with it. Heath Ledger is now in hell and has begun serving his eternal sentence there - beside which nothing else about Heath Ledger is relevant or consequential.”

They have a flair for creating headlines, that’s for sure. My favourite slogans: “Heath in Hell”, “Godless Sodomites” and the sign featuring a depiction of gay sex (pictured above). Really want to get to Fred Phelps? Make a statement in the national press like the one made by Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center to a reporter for ABC News: “I doubt there is anybody in America who thinks more about gay sex than Fred Phelps.”