Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Kansas group says Vegas trip mostly about visit to Stern show

The primary purpose for a Las Vegas visit planned next week by a Kansas-based church is not to protest a high school production of a gay-themed play but rather to appear as guests on shock-jock Howard Stern's radio show, the church said Thursday.

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, which travels nationwide to protest events with gay themes, has gained much local publicity this week for its plan to picket the Las Vegas Academy's production of "The Laramie Project."

But even if there were no play, church members were booked to appear on the controversial syndicated radio show, to be aired from the Hard Rock next week.

"We were already planning on being there (Las Vegas) for Howard Stern's show," said Westboro Church lawyer Shirley Phelps-Roper. "For the school, it was just serendipity -- a chance to get our message to them."

That message, in a flier posted on the church Web site and circulated at Las Vegas Academy this week, opens with the promise "to picket the sodomite whorehouse masquerading as Las Vegas Academy and the Pied Piper from Hell Principal Stephen Clark."

The flier closes by saying: "All those associated with the Las Vegas Academy and The Laramie Project will eventually join Matt Shepard in Hell," where the flier says he has been since he was beaten to death for being gay.

Matt Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was killed in 1998 because he was gay. The play is about Shepard and his death. The production opened April 22 and ends with 7 p.m. performances today and Saturday.

The Anti-Defamation League called Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka "virulently homophobic," noting the group protested Shepard's funeral. Group founder Fred Phelps, a disbarred Kansas attorney whose church is made up largely of family members, has raised the profile of the group with pickets and verbal attacks on gays, Jews, blacks and other Christian faiths.

On its Web sites www.gothatesfags.com and www.godhatesamerica.com, the group espouses its belief that America is "doomed" because it supports gays.

On one site, the group targets former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman, who quit the NFL to become an Army Ranger. Tillman was killed in fighting in Afghanistan and the group says he is in hell because he chose "to go worship the filthy flag and serve in the fag military cramming America's filth down the world's throat."

The graphic flier about the Las Vegas protest sparked anger from parents, students and gay rights activists who say the message of hate flies in the face of the moral of the play the Westboro Baptist Church will protest.

"The purpose of The Laramie Project was to demonstrate the results of what hate and ignorance does," said Las Vegas Academy junior Jamie Concepcion, daughter of gay activist and single mom Gladys Carrasquillo, a board member of the Southern Nevada Association of Pride Corp. "Sadly, instead of discouraging hate, it is provoking it."

Carrasquillo said she will join gay community leaders in a planned counter-protest on the sidewalks in front of the downtown school at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, the time Westboro Church officials plan what they are calling a peaceful 45-minute demonstration.

Concepcion and Las Vegas Academy freshman Donya Bradshaw say they have mixed emotions -- they want to follow their principal's advice and ignore the protesters, but also want to shout out their feelings Monday morning.

"They (church) should mind their own business," Bradshaw said. "And they should read the parts of the Bible that talk about loving everyone."

Las Vegas Academy Principal Stephen Clark said he is encouraging his students to be tolerant of those who are themselves intolerant.

"I told them dignity, integrity, compassion, tolerance and respect for others are values upon which this school stands," he said. "I think the kids will take this as a hate group with a political agenda and that they should not stoop to their level. I think the kids have a handle on that."

Clark said Clark County School District Police officers assigned to his school have contacted the church and "they assured us they are nonviolent." He met Thursday afternoon with Metro Police officers to discuss added safety measures.

"We will go about our daily business as usual. If they try to disrupt us when the school day starts at 7 a.m., then we will deal with issues of campus disruption under Nevada statutes."

Advanced-placement testing is scheduled at the school on the day of the protest.

Clark said the play in question is a "great vehicle for acting. Every actor plays five or six different characters. It will look good on their resumes." He said there were no parental protests against the theme of the play. It has been a near sellout for every performance because the theater-in-the-round seats just 150 people.

Westboro Church officials oppose the school's production, but nonetheless have a bit of the theater in them.

Church members last appeared on Stern's New York-based radio show in December on a segment called the "Hollyweird Squares," a take-off on the Hollywood Squares celebrity game show.

Phelps-Roper, daughter of the church founder, said her organization often does celebrity-based events in addition to its protests. Its members have appeared on Rikki Lake's TV show and segments of the news magazine show 20 / 20, but declined to do Jerry Springer's show because of its violence, she said.

Westboro Church members also came to Las Vegas in recent years and staged protests at the Liberace Museum and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she said.

Local gay community leaders originally planned to ignore the church's upcoming visit. However, in the wake of news reports about the school protest, a leader of the gay community said they have no choice but to respond.

"We view them as a bunch of idiots who are in town to appear on the Howard Stern show," said Bob Bellis, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada, at 953 E. Sahara Avenue.

"We don't want the children to arrive at school that day and see just them standing there criticizing (the kids). So we are planning a peaceful counter-protest at the site to show the kids that there are those who support them."

Asked if Las Vegas should have anti-hate laws that would thwart groups such as Westboro Church from having a forum in front of a public school, Bellis said his organization is pro-First Amendment and would not support such restrictions even against those who condemn him and other gays.

"I would sooner they (Westboro Chuch) not come here, but First Amendment rights -- the right to protest -- are too important," Bellis said.

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