Protesters speak against domestic partner registry

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church held demostrations around Columbia.

By Andrew Denney

Published May 15, 2009

Members of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church, nationally known for their extreme anti-gay protests, were in Columbia on Thursday to protest the city's domestic partner registry.

Seven members of the church — including three children — stood in front of the Daniel Boone Building at Broadway and Seventh streets at noon holding signs printed with outrageous messages, such as "America Is Going To Hell", "Fags Are Beasts" and "You're Going To Hell." After about 30 minutes, the group moved to the corner of Ninth and Cherry streets, just a block away from Missouri United Methodist Church, where an alternative event was being held in response to the protest.

The protesters were given protection from officers of the Columbia Police Department, who formed a perimeter around the group with officers on foot and on horseback. The protests went largely without incident; two bystanders were taken away in handcuffs for disrupting the protest in front of city hall.

The church has made national headlines for holding similar protests at the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq because they say God is punishing the U.S. for its tolerance of homosexuals. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the 71-member church is classified as an anti-gay hate group. The group is independent of the mainline Baptist church and is led by Fred Phelps, of whom most of the church is related.

The group was protesting a domestic partner registry that was passed into law by a unanimous vote by the City Council last month.

Ben Phelps, a grandson of Fred Phelps, said the city's registry was an "insult to God almighty."

"Everybody in the city might as well stand here with their middle fingers up at God," Phelps said. "Or maybe moon him."

In addition to their incendiary signs, a member of the group hung the U.S. flag from her waist so that it dragged on the ground when she walked. At the second protest, bystanders said they saw the same protester spit on the flag.

Phelps said the U.S. "doesn't deserve any respect."

"Any nation that glorifies sodomy and has forsaken God, that nation is doomed," Phelps said.

Seileach Corleigh, a member of the local chapter of the National Organization for Women who was a bystander at the first protest, said because the group was in the city to protest city legislation, Columbia was "doing the right thing" by passing the registry.

"Anytime there is social progress made, there are going to be those that, out of fear and hatred, try to hold that back," Corleigh said.

Jospeh and Jennfier Brandt, a married couple from Columbia who were bystanders at the first protest, said the protestors' presence showed the tolerance of the city.

"It makes me kind of proud, because we're obviously doing something right for them to come here and feel like they have to push their ideas on us," Jennifer Brandt said.

Members of the Triangle Coalition gathered at the Missouri United Methodist Church and stood silently arm-in-arm across the street from the protesters.

Asher Kolieboi, an MU senior and founder of IncludeMe MU, who attended the alternative protest and said he saw the protesters, said the extremism of the group makes their message alienating to onlookers, but said they do good by bringing communities together.

"I think they do more to unify communities, and I'm sure they hate that," Kolieboi said.

Third Ward Councilman Karl Skala, who did not see either of the protests, said the protester's actions "went beyond the pale" in terms of expressing their religious beliefs, as it costs the city tax dollars to protect the protesters with police officers. He said the registry was intended to promote equality of rights and not to promote one group over another.

"I see this as a fairness and equity issue," Skala said. "I don't see it as a matter of faith."