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Is it April 1st? WBC leader's BFF: a proudly outed former drag queen

westboro%20baptist%20church.jpgI'm trying to think of a more articulate and eloquent way to say this, but maybe the simple ways are the best: people are weird.

It turns out that a good pal of hated and hating Westboro Baptist Church leader Shirley Phelps-Roper is none other that an openly gay writer whose memoirs about life with a crack-addled rent boy have hit the bestseller lists.

In a friendship formed thanks to mutual respect for their cast iron principles, Josh Kilmer-Purcell said he has more time for Shirley's strong views than people who encourage "homophobia lite" in the form of sayings like "love the sinner, not the sin". Phelps-Roper herself added that there's no black or white about issues like this - you can't be "a little pregnant", she pointed out - and Kilmer-Purcell listed ways in which the two of them are more similar than different. He even tried to donate and raise money to keep the church going when a legal battle threatened to shut it down.

Partly wishing I had the strength to respect someone whose opinions and practices - they're planning to picket Heath Ledger's funeral, of course - are so wildly opposed and repugnant to mine, and partly scratching my head bemusedly, I wish their friendship luck. Who knows, maybe they'll both become more understanding as a result.

And maybe it was a porker with wings that just sailed past the window...

[via SameSame]

Posted by Alex Roumbas on January 25, 2008

A look at an inspiring family and how breakfast clubs and after school activities have changed their lives

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Fred W. and Margie M. Phelps, Sr.
Westboro Baptist Church
3701 S.W. 12th Street
Topeka, Kansas 66604


Karl and Deborah Kay Hockenbarger
James Hockenbarger/Jennifer Hockenbarger
1929 S.W. Lane
Topeka, Kansas 66604


Fred W. Phelps. Jr. and Betty Phelps
3600 S. W. Holly Lane
Topeka, Kansas 66604


Margie J. Phelps
3734 S.W. 12th
Topeka, Kansas 66604

Ben Phelps
3632 S.W. Churchill
Topeka, Kansas 66604


Rebekah Phelps-Davis and Chris Davis-Phelps
1216 S.W. Cambridge
Topeka, Kansas 66604


Theresa Davis
3632 S.W. 12th Street
Topeka, Kansas 66604

Shirley Phelps-Roper and Brent Roper-Phelps
Sam Phelps-Roper
3640 S.W. Churchill
Topeka, Kansas 66604

Posted by: Cam Brunner | January 27, 2008 4:14 PM

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