Watch Out for the Hate Parade: Fred Phelps in Town This Weekend

If you see incredibly offensive signs or spot a ruckus breaking out at Boston churches tomorrow, don't be surprised. Bostonist wants to warn you that Fred Phelps, the poor excuse for a human being who has picketed funerals of American soldiers with signs that say "GOD HATES FAGS," will be in town this weekend. Sam Baltrusis at EDGE Boston writes,

Rev. Fred Phelps and his vitriolic, anti-gay group of supporters will be in Massachusetts on Saturday, Nov. 3 to protest the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School production of "The Laramie Project." And on Sunday, the Kansas-based group plans to picket outside of the Trinity Church Boston in Copley Square.

Bostonist thought Phelps and his wretched crew from Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church might turn off the hate spigot after a judge said they would have to pay $2.9 million to the father of a Marine whose funeral they disrupted. Alas, they are taking the hate parade on tour.

The head of Trinity Church said to Baltrusis, "We don’t want to give them any reason to act up or do anything that will exacerbate the situation. We refuse to react to their bait."

A group at the Boston LiveJournal site is also trying to take the high road. They are organizing a Free Hugs campaign to go hugging around Phelps and his crew wherever they are to counteract their toxic campaign, and they've posted his schedule for Sunday. You may wish to see him in person, hug him, or hug anywhere around him, but the general message from those interviewed by Baltrusis is that these people shouldn't engage Phelps and his followers and that it is much better to ignore them. Your call.

Signs that you might see this weekend from the official website for Fall From Grace, a documentary about Phelps. More information about Phelps and his followers is available from the Southern Poverty Law Center. You can also see this profile from Louis Theroux.