Phelps clan barred from Britain

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper won’t be allowed into the UK to protest a play.

LONDON, Feb. 20 (UPI) — Two U.S. anti-gay preachers have been banned from entering England, officials said. 
Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who belong to the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, were planning to come to Britain to protest outside a performance of “The Laramie Project,” the Times of London reported Friday.

The plan recounts the death of gay college student Matthew Shepard who was killed in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998. The play is to be performed Saturday at Queen Mary’s College.

Phelps, 79, and his daughter, 51, are known for protesting at American soldiers’ funerals, where they display banners with phrases such as “God Hates Fags.” Members of the church say they believe U.S. troop deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for America’s tolerance of gays.

Phelps and his daughter have been labeled as “extremists” by the British government.

Another country heard from – the UK joins Canada and Sweden in not permitting the family on their soil.
A UK gay rights group Outrage doesn’t agree with the Home Secretary, saying although the Phelps were odious, and give Christianity a bad name, they shouldn’t be banned.
Six UK denominations thanked the Home Secretary for the special circumstance decision, including The Evangelical Alliance, Baptist Union, Bible Society’s Theos, The Methodist Church and United Reform Church:

We do not share [Westboro's] hatred of lesbian and gay people. We believe that God loves all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and we unreservedly stand against their message of hate toward those communities.

…Neither the style nor substance of their preaching expresses the historic, orthodox Christian faith. And we ask that the members of Westboro Baptist Church refrain from stirring up any more homophobic hatred in the UK or elsewhere.”

I’m torn on issues about the Phelps rights but I want to be clear.

The Phelps, thier Westboro Church family compound and Phelps Chartered law firm are not a Christian group. 
They are not recognized by any US Baptist organization, denomination or convention, Primitive, Independent Baptists or Calvinists. (which the Phelps claim to be)
The Phelps are a family who make their living pushing free speech boundaries in the US. 
Fred Phelps and his daughter were not going to the UK to preach or worship or practise Christianity.
They were not going to express their opinion.
They were going to the UK to incite and harrass, simply because that is what they exist to do. 
I see no reason why a population has to put up with them acting out.

The only way the Phelps are going to be stopped is when US communities targeted by them  economically bankrupt them, cut off their ability to make a living as a hate group.
Their views on whatever country or whomever they chose to target are widely disseminated, I do not see what the family does for a living as a free speech issue.  
The Phelps sue cities and states who oppose them.
The Phelps exist to push legal and financial boundaries whether it be at funerals of US military,  movies, plays, churches, functions or whatever or whom ever they chose to target.

Speech carries responsibility, public speech carries public responsibility.  
When speech is practised for the purpose of incitement, leadership and the community where the incitement and harassment is targeted have decisions to make. 
Incitement carries public health and security costs. 
Why do Canada, Sweden or UK taxpayers have to pay out for well known, well documented foreign harassers? We have our own, why allow a professional hate group free reign?

 The Phelps are not UK, Canadian or Swedish citizens and while their right to their opinion is one issue, their right to come to our countries to harm others is our issue. 
They are not banned because of their religion, they have not been banned by intolerant minorities; they have been refused entry to other countries because it has been decided it is not in the best interest of the population of those countries to have the a well trained hate group screaming, marching and harassing and willfully inciting. Since when has incitement been protected speech? 

Decisions to prevent entry into a country are made every day, the US denies entry for opinion; how out of touch does a government have to be to know exactly what the Phelps do for a living? 
The Phelps are extremists – very open extremists. 
They have used ideologies, social issues race, ethnicity, orientation, gender and religion as it’s suited their purpose and have railed against the US government, US military, Catholics, Mormons, Amish, Baptists (insert a denomination, religion or sect of choice) natural disasters, accidents and tragedies.  
Whatever puts coin in their pocket and their name in the spotlight. 

Various US states have taken legal steps against the Phelps over the years. 
 Jon Phelps was found guilty of witness intimidation and misdemeanor battery, assault and disorderly conduct. (1993) The family law firm represents themselves and take convictions to appeal. 
Family members have been arrested on various charges such as trespassing, failure to obey a police officer, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, aggravated intimidation of a witness and filing a false report. A civil suit was filed by by Albert Snyder (2006).

The Phelp current God Hates Fags campaign shot to prominence in the late 1990′s with the death of Matthew Shepard. The Laramie Project  is based on Shepard’s brutal murder and the effect on residents of the Wyoming town.