Anti gay sign westboro
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Twitter has allegedly suspended the accounts of a fundamental anti-LGBT baptist church and its leader.
LGBT website Pink News reported the accounts of Westboro Baptist Church (@WBCsays) and Shirley Phelps-Roeper (@WBCShirl) were both removed by Twitter on Wednesday. One user claiming to be Phelps-Roeper told Pink News in a tweet it's backlash from the group's "God Hates The Media Tour" in August.
The organization, accompanied by their representative spread of anti-LGBT signs, traveled to the headquarters of Silicon Valley tech companies -- including Twitter, Facebook, Skype and Apple -- to protest against the media's so-called attempt to "to vilify, marginalize and demonize the servants of God at Westboro Baptist Church."
It's unclear why other Westboro Baptist Church accounts, like @WBCsigns and @WBCSaysRepent, remain accessible despite their equally offensive tweets.
Twitter has not yet responded to CBS SF's email seek for comment.
Last month, Twitter improved its guidelines for reporting abuse among users after several high-profile cases around the earth, including the ongoing harassment tied to Gamer
The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., who founded a Kansas church widely known for its protests at military funerals and anti-gay sentiments, is in a concern facility, according to a church spokesman.
Phelps, 84, is being cared for in a Shawnee County facility, Westboro Baptist Church spokesman Steve Drain said Sunday. Drain wouldn't identify the facility.
"I can tell you that Fred Phelps is having some health problems," Drain said. "He's an old man, and aged people get health problems."
Members of the Westboro church, based in Topeka, frequently protest at funerals of soldiers with signs containing messages such as "Thank God for dead soldiers," and "Thank God for 9/11," claiming the deaths are God's punishment for American immorality and tolerance of homosexuality and abortion.
Westboro Baptist, a small team made mostly of Phelps' extended family, inspired a federal law and laws in numerous states limiting picketing at funerals. But in a major free-speech ruling in 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the church and its members couldn't be sued for monetary damages for inflicting pain on grieving families under the First Amendment.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil-rights nonpr
Fred Phelps: How Westboro pastor spread 'God hates fags'
"Locally, the church is proximate a park in Topeka, Kansas, called Gage park," says Fred Mann, a reporter for the Wichita Eagle, who has written about Phelps in the past.
"They believed there was gay activity in the park. They went with signs, anti-gay signs and then it spread from there."
At first, the "God hates fags" slogan was nowhere to be create.
"I remember them talking about the beginning days of the picketing," says filmmaker K Ryan Jones.
His production Fallen From Grace followed Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church for a year.
He recalls that they told him: "Originally our signs did just say 'gay' or 'homosexual' or that kind of thing, and then we started using 'God Hates Fags'."
They establish out to shock - and they knew that those who weren't offended by the employ of the synonyms "fag" would bristle at the plan of God hating anyone, says Jones.
Their tactics seemed to work. Though "God hates fags" is not their only sign, it is one of the best-known and the one most associated with the church.
The
An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely joined to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
'Angels' protect Orlando funeral from anti-gay Westboro protesters
People in Orlando have dressed as guardian angels to protect the funeral of one of the Orlando shooting victims from homophobic protesters.
A small number of Westboro Baptist Church followers attended Saturday's service for Christopher Leinonen.
The anti-gay organisation only has about 40 members but is skillfully known for its hate speeches and funeral protests.
The handful of demonstrators was blocked from view by around 200 counter-protesters.
"I think our presence here is just to display support for the families of the victims and we want to produce sure that we're an ally," said one supporter, Suzanne Draper.
David Hand tweeted: "At Orlando counter-protest, angels wearing big wings ensure Westboro protesters don't disrupt the funeral proper.", external
Some of those wore huge colorless linen wings, which they used to further screen the funeral proceedings.
The wings, made by volunteers from the Orlando Shakespeare Theater's costume and set departments, first appeared at the 1998 funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay male murdered in Wyoming.