I am Kyle's self-indulgence

I heard on the news last week that Congress passed a bill barring protestors from military funerals. The bill was actually written with one man in mind: the anti-gay demonstrator Fred Phelps. The story once again brought national attention to the gay-hating actions of this man, for which I am very grateful. You see, I honestly believe that Mr. Phelps's words and actions are so extreme and offensive that they are actually achieving the opposite effect of what he desires. Let me explain.

Up until recently, Fred Phelps preached his "God hates fags" message mostly at funerals and memorials for homosexuals, including Matthew Shepherd, the famous hate crime victim. For this, Phelps immediately made enemies with anyone who supports gay rights or even a more moderate tolerance of homosexuality. This was apparently not enough, though, because Fred Phelps has more recently staged protests at military funerals for soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. His twisted logic goes something like this: The American government tolerates homosexuality; American soldiers die defending America; therefore, American soldiers die defending homosexuality.

In his idiocy, Fred Phelps has actually found a way to give homophobic bigots a bad name. While he doesn’t have very many followers in his "ministry," there are plenty of people in America who would at least support his "God hates fags" message in spirit. I’ve actually taught a number of them in rural Missouri. But here’s the thing: in general (and I don’t think it’s an unfair generalization), people who hate homosexuals tend to support the military. I’ve actually had some of my students, who would previously have supported Phelps’s crusade, curse the man’s name because of his protests at military funerals. I honestly think some of them have even paused to rethink their own anti-gay attitudes.

Like I said before, Fred Phelps had previously made enemies of most moderate-to-liberal individuals in America. Now he’s gone ahead and made enemies with everybody else. The more he draws attention to himself and angers people of all sociopolitical views, the more I believe Mr. Phelps reveals to everyone the ugliness of homophobic hatred. And for that I thank him.