Fred Phelps and The Westboro Baptist Church: Burning Gay

Fred Phelps Burning Gay (inks on bristol / 2011)

Fred Phelps is a guy I've wanted to portray in my work for a very long time and recently got an artistic push via a brainstorming session with my friend and author Zach.  All of the ideas I had toyed with myself were vicious, sexual, and over the top and would have never found an audience here with you.  I guess Fred was getting to me with his hateful rhetoric.  What he was doing was working because what I was experiencing in reaction to The Westboro Baptist Church's actions was hate.  Living in a community housing thousands of Fort Campbell soldiers and families, we are no strangers here in Clarksville to this certified hate group's antics.  Last year some church members scheduled themselves a stop at Austin Peay State University to protest a speaking engagement with Judy Shepard (who's son, Matthew Sheperd was slain for being homosexual back in 1998.) The students handled the situation in a classy way making mock and ridiculous signs to counter-demonstrate the church. 

While hanging out with my buddies Zach and Nick, the subject of Phelps and his "God Hates Fags" campaign came up as did my idea to make him a subject of a drawing. Zach suggested I have Phelps holding one of his signs and sweating with terror in his own little personal Hell- Gay Land (if you will.)  What is this man so afraid of to go to the lengths he does to spread his message of hate?  Rainbows?  Butterflies?  Unicorns?  Or the pink flames of a burning gay apocalypse?

Click HERE for the Anti-Defamation League's profile on The Westboro Baptist Church

Click HERE for my article on this year's Nashville Pride Festival and my unveiling of the Fred Phelps portrait to the public!

And now for one of my heroes, Michael Moore and his showdown with the WBC...