Kansas Baptist Church Intends to Picket Heath Ledger's Funeral Because He Played Gay Character

A radical Baptist church in Kansas known for picketing the funerals of soldiers who perished in Iraq said it intends to protest Heath Ledger's memorial service with signs claiming the actor died and is in Hell because he played a gay character in “Brokeback Mountain.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the church as a hate group and the organization is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League, according to its Wikipedia entry.

Phelps-Roper said the church group will also be picketing the Academy Awards this year.

Both the printed release and Phelps-Roper’s verbal diatribe about Ledger were rife with homophobic slurs. She said that those who call her and other members of Westboro Baptist Church bigots must also think God is a bigot.

“God hates fags,” she said. “The wrath of God has been revealed before the eyes of this nation with the death of Heath Ledger. … This nation worships the dead almost as much as they worship their filthy sex acts. America is doomed.”