October 10, 2011: Anti-Gay Church Member Berates Child who Died from Brain Tumor

Margie Phelps, a leader of the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church (WBC—see November 27, 1955 and After), posts abusive comments to the parents of a Birmingham, England, boy who died from an inoperable brain tumor hours earlier. Eleven-year-old Harry Moseley had raised some £500,000 in donations during the last months of his life. Phelps posts three comments on Twitter berating Moseley and his family. One reads: “No #RIPHarry for Harry Moseley. Hating parents made him an idol; now you raise $$ on his dead body! #shame #nooneisinnocent.” Another strikes out at prominent area football (soccer) players who had supported Harry’s quest to raise money for charity before his death. Phelps says the “emotional tributes” of the over 70,000 messages of love and condolence sent to the Moseley family on Twitter were “phony” and the posters “[s]hould’ve told Harry Moseley to obey God!” Finally, she posts: “What Harry Moseley needed more than cancer treatment was the TRUTH about God, Heaven & Hell. He didn’t get that. Now it’s too late.” Moseley’s mother Georgie Moseley calls Phelps’s comments “vile,” and adds, “I am very, very angry that someone can say that about an 11-year-old boy who has just died.” [Birmingham Mail, 10/10/2011]