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Westboro Church Comes to West Village to Protest Gays, Jews
By
Billy Parker
Published Jun 21, 2009
Modified Jun 21, 2009
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By
Billy Parker
Published Jun 21, 2009
Modified Jun 21, 2009
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Bearing signs that read "You Will Eat Your Babies" and "Fags Doom Nations," members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church showed up at gay-friendly The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in the West Village ready to give its members a piece of their mind. Westboro member Steve Drane told NY1, "Anywhere where God's word needs to be preached to an unrepentant generation, that's where we'll be." This weekend marks the first that the church led by Fred Phelps is expanding its anti-gay crusade to now include Jews as well, for reasons such as their exceeding tolerance of homosexuality and abortion to their lack of repentance for killing Christ. While only a handful of Westboro members made it out today, hundreds including Speaker Christine Quinn faced off with them in a counter-protest, where members of the temple were encouraged to keep their message positive when addressing the visitors, particularly while speaking to the press.
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christine quinn
fred phelps
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Temple
The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah
west village
westboro baptist church
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