More than 260,000 people have signed a petition to the White House asking for it to label the notorious Westboro Baptist Church a hate group.
The petition aimed at the church best known for picketing military funerals and other events with signs declaring “GOD HATES FAGS,” is believed to be the most popular cause ever on the White House’s “We the People” petition site. Four other petitions targeting the church’s tax-exempt status have attracted nearly 200,000 additional signatures. All five petitions have passed the number required for a response from President Barack Obama’s administration.
The tiny Kansas-based church, mostly made up of members of founder Fred Phelps’ family, has picketed the funeral of military members killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq and funerals of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Phelps preaches that the deaths are God’s retribution for the United States’ acceptance of homosexuality (or in some cases, failure to condemn homosexuality strongly)
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