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http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifPosted on Fri, Jul. 15, 2005http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Margie Phelps: moonlighting for hate
RANDY SCHOLFIELD: MARGIE PHELPS -- MOONLIGHTING FOR HATE




Margie Phelps has a fascinating dual life that I'm guessing most Kansans don't know about. But I think it's worth your consideration.

By day, Margie is a high-ranking state official at the Kansas Department of Corrections. A model public servant.

On her off-hours, Margie -- daughter of Fred -- joins other members of her father's Topeka-based "church" as they picket private funerals, wave "God hates fags" signs and bless the bombs killing our troops.

Interesting, huh?

She's not the only Phelps leading a rich public life: Her brother Tim, who also takes part in the group's anti-gay hatefests, is spokesman for the Shawnee County Jail.

Of course, the Phelpses are no strangers to controversy. In fact, they love the attention.

Ignore them, some say. I usually agree.

But something set me off when I read about their latest campaign to picket U.S. soldiers' funerals.

Thanking God for bombs

Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Piper was killed last month by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. According to the Phelpses' twisted logic, soldiers such as Piper are being killed abroad as God's punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality.

So while the Piper family tried to mourn and weep in peace, the Phelpses jeered and shouted nearby.

"Thank God for the mortar," Margie was quoted as saying in a Boston Herald article. "Thank God for the shell that came from the gun. Thank God for the fact that it killed the fruit of America to punish it for its sins."

Subtlety is not their thing. Neither is compassion, love or most other Christian virtues. But even by their standards, this was off-the-charts wacko.

It galled me: How can a top state official moonlight as an agitator for a hate group? Or get away with praising the deaths of our soldiers? My tax dollars are paying for her salary?

Is that, um, appropriate?

I decided to call Margie.

I told her I was curious: Had her public protests ever caused any problems for her at work?

No, she said, because in her 15 years as a state employee, she had maintained a "bright line" between her professional role and her private life.

She never brings up her views at work, she told me, and refuses to discuss them on the job. She performs her work with dedication and competence.

She realizes her beliefs are wildly unpopular, but the First Amendment guarantees her right to speak out.

I heartily agree on that point.

The First Amendment means nothing if it does not protect unpopular speech.

Jack Rickerson, the state's director of human resources, acknowledged that it was an "unusual situation" but said that Phelps' off-hours activities had "violated no state policy" or code of ethics.

Her boss, Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz, told me, "I don't agree with her views," but said he focused on her work performance: "She's a good employee."

Still, something in her compartmentalized attitude irritated me. It seems fair to question whether the boundaries are as bright as she claims.

A position of public trust

After all, she's in a position of public trust. As director of release planning for Kansas prisons, she has authority over a prison population that includes a percentage of gay inmates.

Isn't that a conflict of interest?

HIV and AIDS are serious health threats in that population. But by her own statements, she welcomes these scourges, right?

She bristled at the questions, protesting that she didn't know which prisoners were gay, and that anyway, she would never allow her private views to influence her professional duties.

But how could they not, if she really believes her own fire-and-brimstone fury against gays?

Unless, that is, she's a flaming hypocrite.

Again: Phelps has a clear First Amendment right to speak her beliefs and opinions.

I fully accept the reasons why in America she can't and shouldn't be fired for her extreme views -- but neither do Kansans have to quietly tolerate them.

The Phelpses have no problem violating the sacred boundaries of a funeral that allow a grieving family to mourn their loved one in privacy and peace.

So if my questions made Margie uncomfortable -- tough.

Maybe she got a little taste of what it feels like to have your boundaries violated.

"Everybody is entitled to go to their job and not face a hostile workplace," she lectured me.

I agree. I would just add this, and hope she agrees:

Everyone is entitled to have a dignified, peaceful funeral for their loved one and not face a group of hateful bigots.

Call it simple human decency.

The Phelpses might try to practice that sometime.

I couldn't believe this so I had to look it up! Unbelieveable and to think she is a Kansas state employee with power over others. She sounds and acts like a nut. Most of us know God is about love and not hate. I'm not very religious but just in case she ever comes across this thread I'd like to enlighten her with these words from a course I took. I've read enough of her garbage and I wish she'd ponder the following ...

About tolerance ... "Seek not to change the world but seek to change your mind about the world."

About Heaven (open to everyone whether she likes it or not) ... "You can refuse to enter, but you cannot bar the door that Christ holds open. Come unto me who holds it open for you, for while I live it cannot be shut, and I live forever."

About spewing hatred ... "Everything you teach you are learning. Teach only love, and learn that love is yours and you are love."

About others ... "When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him you will see yourself.
As you treat him you will treat yourself.
As you think of him you will think of yourself.
Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself."

Argue with that Margie Phelps! :eek:

This is so funny to me. I am originally from Kansas. Fred Phelps(sp?) and his anti gay crap has been around a long time. I used to live in Topeka and his church members are really a piece of work. They used to posse up on busy street corners where there were traffic lights and picket and try to pass out literature. They have picketed funerals and said a lot of offensive things. There is a park in Topeka called Gage Park and years ago there were attacks on people who were thought to be gay or lesbian in the park, "bashing" if you will.. I believe Fred is a dis-barred attorney who is now a "preacher" as if that isn't a crock. I have never heard of a man of God preaching hate. He was sued about 15 or so years ago. I don't remeber the outcome other than a request of change of venue from Shawnee County (Topeka) to Lyon County (Emporia). Anyway, I always thoght that he was an embarrassment for the other people from Kansas. I mean really as if the rest of the nation doesn't think we were "hicks" from the midwest, we had him representing us on a national level with his feelings about homosexuals. I used to wish that he would tell people he is from Missouri. If his daughter has any position of authority, the good folks of Kansas must have lost their minds.

when you quote the bible you should also quote this...
Leviticus 20:13:
"If a man lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination and they shall surely be put to death."
The bible contains more of course. We all interpret it differently. I can assure you more than one person who works for Kansas has those views. We all have our level of tolerance for anything.
And fyi, her position is one that is filled by hiring and promotion. The citizens have nothing to do with it.

The Phelpses might try to practice that sometime.


You know the bottom line is, "It doesn't matter who you love as long as you love".

Perhaps if one of those families, or a group as a class action suit, filed against her for pain and suffering or harassment, or something like that, or if they got a petition out to ban her from the cemetaries and had her arrested for trespassing it might make her wake up! ( hopefully in jail!LOL!)

We Have A Lot Of Nut Cases In Office In Kansas

Please do not misunderstand me, I am a Christian myself. Pattis, I do believe what the bible says.

One clear scripture is that we should live at peace with others so far as it depends on us. Picketing funerals is not a way to be peaceable with others! I believe that we have to answer for our actions and the things that this congregation are doing are just as wrong. It is written in the
Episles of John - "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God nor is anyone who does not love his brother." Actually, as Christians we have an example to live up to and hate is not acceptable. I had a wonderful Christian supervisor who had a homosexual son who died with HIV. I can not fathom her pain - nor the thought of someone picketing the funeral at one of her lowest points. I do not agree with picketing the funerals of our fallen troops either and have the audacity to thank God for the weapons that took their lives? I am the mother of a Christian Marine who lives his life accordingly. He is currently training to head overseas at the beginning of next year. Should the worst happen - I do not want any picketers. I am grateful that our President has signed a law stating it is unlawful to picket the funerals of military service personnel.

I also get tired of being lumped into the category with others who do not practice true Christianity. God loves homosexuals and Jesus died for them to. We will never reach them with hate or scare them into the gates of heaven. They need to know that God loves them right where they are. We can't shun the people we don't agree with or understand. There is no where in the bible that tells us anyone can't have an opportunity to have a relationship with God and make positive changes. No one is beyond His reach.

[quote=PattisPleasures]when you quote the bible you should also quote this...

... [quote]

Good grief - I just saw this :angry: ... I wonder if you are referring to what I wrote here some time ago. :confused: Just in case I need to set you straight, I did NOT and am NOT quoting the bible !!! I said in my post that I had taken a course, NOT that I was quoting the bible.

And you know what? I don't profess to know much but some things I know for sure, one of those things is that God IS love, not hate !!!!!!

Ok, wow...ummm.....

So, here's what I think. Is homosexuality against my religion, yes. But is tolerance part of my religion, yes.

There you have it.

Then obviously I was not posting to you to begin with. It was to someone who was quoting.