We’re trying to help get this nation to connect the dots — you turn the country over to fags and now those soldiers are coming home in body bags.

— Shirley Phelps-Roper, one of the approximately 75 members of the Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church. Shirley Phelps-Roper is the daughter of the church leader, Reverend Fred Phelps — 76, former lawyer, and father of 13 — who leads a congregation that essentially consists of extended family members in a church that is totally unaffiliated with any other church. The Westboro Baptist Church has recently been demonstrating at military funerals to spread the church’s message that God is punishing the U.S. for tolerating homosexuality by killing soldiers.

The church’s demonstrations challenge both the limits of free speech and common decency, and as such, both houses of Congress have passed the Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act.  The act would prohibit protests in the areas immediately surrounding national cemeteries and the roads leading to cemeteries during, immediately prior to, and following a funeral. President Bush must now sign the act for it to be enacted. Additionally, nine states have passed laws restricting protests at funerals and burials, with a score of other states potentially following suit.

Veterans and grieving family members have enlisted a motorcycle group — which includes a large number of veterans — to drown out the protesters and contain their demonstrations at military funerals.

The church’s appallingly titled and stunningly offensive website spreads its gospel and includes messages that read: “We Dare You To Read This: ‘God Loves Everyone’ — The Greatest Lie Ever Told.”

Mimi Hanaoka