Comments on: Wacko Religious Group Plans To Picket Idol Tour

By: Tara

Tara — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:31:45 +0000

These people feed on negative energy. Letters telling them they are wrong, no matter how nicely put, being ignored, sneered at, argued with. They love it all.

What they don’t like, positive energy.

My dream would be that everyone at the concert smile at them, silently wish them peace and move on to enjoy the concert. End of story. Non event.

By: locracia

locracia — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:25:54 +0000

Leslie, seriously write them.

Have you done it before, did it work? I don’t get the logic to write them, do we express our feelings and they say, oh SORRY, we won’t do this again. I doubt it, IMO.

WWP, I am with you to let them know that I don’t agree with their hate and move ON. I went to the San Jose concert and I was on the other side of the HP Pavillion so I did not see ANY of the protestors that were there and they are not related to this NUTTY group.

At the San Jose concert, it seemed to fuel Adam in his performance apparently, Adam knew about them. I felt, he was AWESOME and took his performance to a new level. When I was watching the concert, I did not know about the protestors.

Those of you who are going to a concert with the protestors, think of the glittering fierce alien who will bedazzled you with his performance.

IMO, this will open the eyes of Danny and Michael to see a different side of life that Adam has/had dealt with because he is gay. Also, I believe it will bring them closer to Adam.

By: s0x_prisoner

s0x_prisoner — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:39:12 +0000

Omg seriously? Those guys came to my high school to protest one of our plays! Wow, they’re everywhere…

By: Natasha

Natasha — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:55:45 +0000

These people sound like complete whackos. The only positive I can find is that they appear to be few in number. I hope they don’t get anywhere near Adam.

By: MaryS-NJ

MaryS-NJ — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:48:16 +0000

Oh geez. Those people again.

The so-called Westboro “Baptist Church” is nothing more than a vehicle by which megalomaniac and media whore Fred Phelps has enriched himself personally and garnered the media attention he so covets.

In my opinion, the best way to deal with this is to ignore it, to pity those children who are forced to do this and to not validate them in any way. Ignoring them is the best strategy.

By: WWP

WWP — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:18:21 +0000

While I agree that there is no turning the hearts of people this far immersed in their ugly hate, at the same time, bullies flourish best when no one challenges or stands up to them. It’s what makes them thrive.

Ignoring the bully in your high school never worked, it just fed his sense of power. Ignoring these bullies won’t work either. Their beliefs need to be challenged continually and they need to be told that their actions are not acceptable. No, there is no reason for violent confrontation or foolhearty grandstanding. But if they appear at a venue I attend, I will tell them they are wrong and that I find them repugnant. Will it change them? No, I can’t imagine for a second that it would. But all I can do is let them know specifically I am untouched by their message. Otherwise, the silence and inaction of those with good intentions can empower people of evil intent, such as these.

By: mahrikka

mahrikka — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:44:29 +0000

Leslie, yes, it’s heartbreaking that prejudice still exists, but have you watched the documentary on You Tube from the links provided in this thread? If not, please watch it before encouraging anyone to take action. These are not your average haters. This is a family where the fire of hatred has been instilled since early childhood. They have been trained to counter any sensible argument. You will NOT change their minds. Fires grow stronger with air. Please don’t give them air and encourage them. In this case the best course of action is to hold positive thoughts in you mind and heart and walk on by.

By: Tara

Tara — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:17:05 +0000

Write them? I may as well write a serial killer and ask him to please stop killing people. Seriously.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:59:47 +0000

Hey all, I can’t believe people would stoop this low – especially in today’s world. And no one should have to shrug this type of prejudice off. It should NOT be allowed in our society. Its not allowed for African Americans or any other race, and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen to homosexuals. What we can do is write to WBC. The address is on the flier but here it is again:

Westboro Baptist Church
3701 S.W. 12th street
Topeka, Kansas 66604

Haha – their zip starts w/ the devils number

I would advice all of you who write to them to focus on the damage and hate that their actions would be causing. Don’t sink to their level by calling them names or saying rude things (people wont listen when being attacked). This is an issue about civil rights, equality and humanity. Their actions would be inhuman and ironically ungodly. Try to appeal to their humanity – if they have any. We want to make them see that what they are doing isn’t right – not that they are horrible people. People like this are blinded by hate and very misguided and they will not respond to hate thrown at them.

Some points to make:
-expressing disappointment and sadness for their actions
-stressing the damage and hate they will be causing
-stressing the inhumanity and abuse of their actions
-I like to quote Luke 6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven”, when dealing w/ religious people who spread messages of hate
-of course there are other passages of the Bible to quote that deal with loving one another, etc. One is in John 4:7-21. There are numerous others.

Glamberts are a strong and passionate group. If we can all rally together and get some of our friends and family to write to the church, I believe our message can make an impact. Maybe if we have enough people writing to them and sharing the same message of disappointment then they will think about what they are doing and not do it. Maybe, but at least we will have tried. With all the negative energy they are throwing at our Adam, we need to through tones more positive energy back. We can not let this stand and we cannot let Adam have to shrug this off. That is not good enough, that is not equality. Spread the message, I will be looking more into this and making a separate thread for it.

Leslie

By: glamfan

glamfan — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:32:25 +0000

“God hates fags” is sheer blasphemy. God LOVES EVERYONE, what bible are they reading? Nothing can come from this but hate.

By: TWI

TWI — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:08:33 +0000

@mj ~~~

Ugh. Fans should not be bombarding the venues with emails. Let Idol security handle this. They are the pros, they know what they are doing.

Sorry if I unwittingly crossed your line here. I’m one who thinks that wrongs flourish when good people do nothing. Ciao!

By: iluvai

iluvai — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:41:39 +0000

This is so depressing. But remember, the haters are a very tiny minority. The people going to the AI concert are supporters!!!!

Walk right by them. Don’t give them a second of your precious time.

I agree!!!!

By: suebrody

suebrody — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:55:53 +0000

One of my friends saw the documentary you mentioned above. She said this group sickens her, and that several members of the family left the “church” b/c of their beliefs and the fact that the “leader” abused his children. She says she believes the “church” will cease to exist once he dies. She is a lapsed (but not excommunicated or whatever you call it) Mormon who has certainly seen her share of prejudice from her (former) community in Salt Lake City; she was pleasantly surprised at how well received Adam’s appearance was there. In any case, she said that they are not comparable. The father reminds me of the nut job who taunted and eventually a killed pro-rights doctor at a Planned Family sites. Thank God this family is not violent, at least not yet.

I am not gay, but I am not sure how it helps to give them a minute of free publicity. They are despicable human beings. Walk right by them. Don’t give them a second of your precious time.

By: jmg887

jmg887 — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Not to horribly misquote him, but Dennis Miller made a comment a looooong time ago about groups like this (I refuse to call them a church, that is sacrilege-(sp?)). Basically he said that as annoying and horrible as these types of people are, let them keep talking and doing their thing. Reason being, at least you know where they are and what they are doing so its easier to monitor and contain them. Good notion really. The whole family are lawyers so they are good at media relations and staying within parameters set by local law so they will likely not be that close to the venues. I do feel for the kids though. Hate is so ugly.

And yes, the best thing to do is ignore the morons. Don’t feed the media whores!!!!!

By: Mary102

Mary102 — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:24:13 +0000

Ugh – I was super depressed to see my city on that list of their schedule. I’ll just ignore it all though – that’s really the best thing you can do. Like advertising – it goes away if no one bothers paying attention to it.