Phelps-A-Thon
Encyclopedia
Phelps-A-Thon.com is a Boston-based, pro-LGBT
website working to counteract the message spread by the Westboro Baptist Church
(WBC) and their leader, Rev. Fred Phelps
. It works by channeling passions against WBC into donations for groups targeted by the WBC's pickets.
Phelps-A-Thon.com assists groups that are being picketed by WBC in setting up a Telethon type of counter-protest. Through the “Phelps-A-Thon.com” website, supporters are able to pledge online to donate a certain amount of money for every minute WBC pickets against a specific target, usually LGBT or Jewish groups. The longer they protest, the more money they raise for the cause they are demonstrating against.
During a trek across the country to promote LGBT equality, Chris Mason
, founder of Phelps-A-Thon.com stopped in Topeka, Kansas to visit the Westboro Baptist Church. Concealing his activist identity, he sat down for a conversation with Shirley Phelps-Roper
, the daughter of Fred Phelps, to get a better understanding of the group's mission. In a video clip of the interview, Chris asks Shirley her opinion of the Phelps-A-Thon counter-protests.
. The website arose when Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church came to Boston to protest a local production of The Laramie Project
. The event raised over $4,600 for the pro-LGBT project, Driving Equaity. After this first Phelps-A-Thon, people from around the country, upon learning they were going to be picketed by WBC, started contacting Chris, asking for help in setting up their own Phelps-A-Thons. The Phelps-A-Thon.com website was created in an effort to helps local activists conduct the counter-protests in their own communities.
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
website working to counteract the message spread by the Westboro Baptist Church
Westboro Baptist Church
The Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is monitored as such by the...
(WBC) and their leader, Rev. Fred Phelps
Fred Phelps
Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. is an American pastor heading the Westboro Baptist Church , an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas...
. It works by channeling passions against WBC into donations for groups targeted by the WBC's pickets.
Phelps-A-Thon.com assists groups that are being picketed by WBC in setting up a Telethon type of counter-protest. Through the “Phelps-A-Thon.com” website, supporters are able to pledge online to donate a certain amount of money for every minute WBC pickets against a specific target, usually LGBT or Jewish groups. The longer they protest, the more money they raise for the cause they are demonstrating against.
During a trek across the country to promote LGBT equality, Chris Mason
Chris Mason (activist)
Christopher Michael Mason is an American LGBT activist in the state of Massachusetts. He is the founder of Phelps-A-Thon.com, Progressive Approach, Inc., TakeMassAction, Bated Breath Films, co-founder of Join The Impact Massachusetts, and the filmmaker behind The Driving Equality Project.-Early...
, founder of Phelps-A-Thon.com stopped in Topeka, Kansas to visit the Westboro Baptist Church. Concealing his activist identity, he sat down for a conversation with Shirley Phelps-Roper
Shirley Phelps-Roper
Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper is an American lawyer and political activist. She is best known as the spokesperson of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, an organization known for its highly publicized public protests conducted under the slogan "God Hates...
, the daughter of Fred Phelps, to get a better understanding of the group's mission. In a video clip of the interview, Chris asks Shirley her opinion of the Phelps-A-Thon counter-protests.
History
Phelps-A-Thon.com is run by LGBT-activst, Chris MasonChris Mason (activist)
Christopher Michael Mason is an American LGBT activist in the state of Massachusetts. He is the founder of Phelps-A-Thon.com, Progressive Approach, Inc., TakeMassAction, Bated Breath Films, co-founder of Join The Impact Massachusetts, and the filmmaker behind The Driving Equality Project.-Early...
. The website arose when Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church came to Boston to protest a local production of The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie,...
. The event raised over $4,600 for the pro-LGBT project, Driving Equaity. After this first Phelps-A-Thon, people from around the country, upon learning they were going to be picketed by WBC, started contacting Chris, asking for help in setting up their own Phelps-A-Thons. The Phelps-A-Thon.com website was created in an effort to helps local activists conduct the counter-protests in their own communities.