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Anti-gay group targets military funerals
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Aug 20, 2005 09:07pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Kansas City Star |
| News Date | Sunday, August 21, 2005 03:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By SCOTT CANON
The Kansas City Star
Long an unwelcome presence at the funerals of AIDS victims, the extended family of anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps now travels the country picketing soldiers’ funerals.
The group, notorious for its “God hates fags” placards, reasons that roadside bombs killing American troops in Iraq are divine retaliation for an small bomb that caused about $1,800 damage outside the Topeka home of one of Phelps’ daughters in 1995.
Families and friends of fallen troops say they find the picketing offensive but a fact of life in a country with the freedoms of the sort defended by military sacrifice.
“I guess they do have that right,” said Betty Opskar, whose son died in Iraq. “That’s why my son served his country.”
Last month in Princeton, Minn., the Phelps clan picketed the funeral of her son, Sgt. Bryan Opskar. A 32-year-old Marine, he was killed July 23 by a roadside bomb blast in Iraq.
“Our family just chose to ignore them,” Betty Opskar said. “We did not want to give them any reason to further their protest.” |
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