1995 - 1997: Anti-Gay Church Protesters Convicted of Harassing Passersby

Benjamin Phelps, the grandson of Fred Phelps, the leader of the notoriously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church (WBC—see November 27, 1955 and After), spits on a passerby during a protest by the church (see June 1991 and After). Benjamin Phelps is convicted of a charge of misdemeanor battery. Other WBC members found innocent in two similar cases file lawsuits against the original complainants. Another Phelps family member, Jonathan Phelps, is convicted of disorderly conduct after verbally assaulting passersby at another protest; he stood outside a theater waving a sign proclaiming “Fags: The pr_ck goes up the _ss” and screaming at passing children, “Did your daddy stick his pr_ck up your _ss last night?” His original conviction is overturned due to a legal technicality, but he is convicted in a second trial. Fred Phelps is also convicted of disorderly conduct in related incidents, when he spoke in an abusive manner to members of a birthday party hosted by local attorney John Hamilton. All of the incidents occurred outside a local restaurant in Topeka, Kansas (see March 26, 1993). Benjamin Phelps is given 12 months of probation and is required to write an essay about legally acceptable language. Fred Phelps is fined $1,000 and sentenced to 60 days in jail, but the sentences are suspended. All of the Phelpses unsuccessfully claim that they were victimized by selective prosecution and by judicial bias. [Topeka Capital-Journal, 5/24/1997; Southern Poverty Law Center, 4/2001; Global Oneness, 2011]