TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., who founded a Kansas church that’s widely known for its anti-gay sentiments and protests at military funerals, is in a care facility, according to a church spokesman.
The 84-year-old Phelps is being cared for in a Shawnee County facility, according to Westboro Baptist Church spokesman Steve Drain.
Members of the church, based in Topeka, frequently protest at funerals of soldiers with signs containing messages like “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 church comprised 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.
