In the last decade or so, Westboro Baptist Church has thrust itself upon the national stage, for its strategy of harassing mourners at military funerals with their homophobic, hate speech protests. Despicable, but I believe the Supreme Court decided rightly that hate speech, when not incindiary to violence, is protected. (Local areas can still place restrictions on proximity, but they can't suppress the protests, outright).

For decades BEFORE this, the Westboro Church had confined its protests to purely homophobic protests, within the confines of Kansas. I saw them when Al Franken came to speak at the Lied Center in Lawrence, KS a decade ago, at a Cajun concert by a Zydeco band called Beaujelais (?), downtown near the State Capitol almost any day of the week (then and now). Any Sunday, now, you can see Westboro protestors at Christ the King Catholic church in Topeka, drawing inferences between homosexuals and the Catholic priesthood.

Same signs, they re-use the same stock wherever they go. They appears wherever "two or more are gathered". Why don't you hear about these events? Because a decade or so ago, newscasters in Topeka and throughout Kansas decided that they aren't news. The Phelps use the clashes with counter protestors to raise the church's profile in the media. There is a public acknowledgement that the Phelps are media "famewhores".

Kansans on the street ignore them, too. They show up at public venues and park at one entrance door, and people just direct themselves to another door. Residents are wont to engage them, as the Phelps have the media on "speed dial" on their phones. Anyone looks "sideways" towards the Phelps, and they make a TV event out of it. Without a scuffle, the news media has no reason to cover them. Kansans won't give them the satisfaction.

I believe that media pickins' got so slim, in Kansas, that they started expanding outside to get some attention. They went to New Jersey to harass a male rape victim. They went to Alaska. A cousin in Anchorage, AK sent a Facebook message saying that the Phelps were coming and they were planning a counter protest, and I had to tell her "NO!!! Don't give them press! The media won't cover them walking in circles talking to themselves!"

So here is the story with the Phelps. Fred Phelps established the Westboro Baptist Church 20+ (maybe even 30 yrs ago). He is unaffiliated with the American Baptist Convention, or the Southern Baptist Convention. Westboro was thrown out of one of the conventions, and he was stripped of the title "Reverend". He established his own Baptist association (the A.B.A), with his ONE church as its entire membership, and invested HIMSELF with the title Reverend. It's as if  he said "I'm Catholic" and you said "Roman, Latin Rite, Maronite or Orthodox?" and he said "Fred. Fred's Catholic Church". It's a B.S. title, unfortunately making a false connection to the 99.9% of "True" Baptists. (Kansans just know him as "Fred" as in the local "Drop Dead, Fred" bumperstickers.) "

He has 13 children, all but a few are members of his church. Eleven, or so, went to law school, but were disbarred in Kansas. In the lifespan of the church, the membership has grown by his children marrying and bearing him grandchildren (tragically). 95% of members are consanguinous members and their spouses / parents, and the membership MIGHT be 80 (?). He says 100, but, I think he conflates. He might add a member, outside of the family, every 2-3 years.

There is no great homophobic movement afoot being led by the Westboro Church. No "Beer Hall Putsch". No fear of  a groundswell of support bubbling up. As an organizer of a popular movement he is an abject failure. A local embarrassment.

On the contrary, Phelps has done A LOT to further progressive legislation, inadvertantly, within the state of Kansas. State and Local politicians fear being affiliated with Phelps. It is a brutal election strategy to affiliate your opponent with Phelps. Having Phelps support your position is political suicide.

He and his family are local, crackpot, nuisances that have taken their sideshow national.

I would say to the National audience, and to the counter protestors planning to meet them with signs if they come to your town;

 "STOP! You are only feeding the beast! It's what the Phelps' WANT! You going "off the beam" gives the media an entre' to put their nonsense on "Nightline". After the media interview you, they interview the Phelps! YOU ARE GIVING THEM A SOAPBOX! They are on the news because of YOU! The Phelps have been local nobodys, undetected for decades in Kansas because the press there doesn't give them a forum. They have a National media profile because of YOU! The parades of  veterans, and biker escorts, etc. GUARANTEE that the Phelps will get valuable free airtime. YOU ARE PUTTING THEM ON TV! STOP!"

(I still can't believe they made it to the Supreme Court, and all the press they got for it. Ugh. Makes me sick.)

If they appear at the funeral of a loved one, I'm sorry. But don't engage, or counter protest. Don't earn for this group a public spectacle with YOUR loved one at the center. 44 states guarantee a respectable buffer zone between you and them. Let them mill in circles, babbling to themselves, ignored. Any engagement, and they will "speed dial" the media and get their message on the news. The best revenge is that they go unheard and unnoticed.