Miami Herald - Friday, May 15, 2009
Jaweed Kaleem, jkaleem@MiamiHerald.com

Its targets are Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale; St. Thomas Episcopal, University Baptist and Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables; Temple Israel in Miami; the University of Miami Law School graduation, and the consulates of Japan, Israel, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, according to the website of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.

At least 15 protesters are making the trip, church member Shirley Phelps-Roper said in an interview.

Led by the Rev. Fred Phelps, Westboro is not affiliated with the mainstream Baptist church. Its 75 members, mostly Phelps' relatives, gained notoriety in 1998 when they picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was beaten to death in Wyoming.

"They are bigots and anti-Semites," said Andrew Rosenkranz, Florida director of the Anti-Defamation League. "We have notified law enforcement and told religious leaders not to engage them."

"We're going to go about our normal business," said Pastor Bill White of University Baptist, where protesters plan to arrive Sunday morning. Several other church leaders said they also planned to ignore the demonstrations.

RETRIBUTION

Westboro members believe God condemns gay people and others who tolerate homosexuality and is killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan because America is a pool of "sodomy, adultery, incest, idolatry" and other sins.

"You see the fall of this nation; you see the economic collapse. We find ourselves in the last hours of the last day," said Phelps-Roper, 51.

"They trigger the constitutional limits on self-expression in many areas," said Florida International University law professor Jose Gabilondo, who debated Phelps-Roper at FIU last fall on Amendment 2, the state constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage.

Protesters plan to be at most of the South Florida locations Sunday for up to an hour. After a stop in Key West, where they plan to picket Key West High School and B'nai Zion synagogue, they will return to Miami for a May 23 demonstration at Temple Israel.

COURT DECISION

In 2007, a Baltimore federal court awarded $5 million for invasion of privacy and emotional distress to the family of a Marine killed in Iraq who sued Westboro Baptist after it picketed the man's funeral.

The church is appealing the award.

Its demonstrations have prompted legislation in dozens of states, including Florida, limiting protests at funerals.

Westboro members were scheduled to protest a gay-themed play at Oakland Park's Rising Action Theatre in January but never showed up.

Members have come to South Florida a handful of times since 1994, when they picketed a memorial service for Pedro Zamora, a Hialeah High School graduate-turned MTV reality show star who died of AIDS complications.
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