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YFFN Joins Coalition To Stage "IGNORE IN" for Upcoming Phelps Visit Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church, Kansas is planning to visit Boise Idaho again in early April. Several socially progressive organizations plan to counter-protest his presence with their absence. Phelps has become notorious for his anti-gay hate rhetoric, protesting the funeral of Mathew Shepard in 1998 and hosting the website "godhatesfags.com". Phelps is more recently notorious for wishing to place a monument in Boise’s Julia Davis Park that states Mathew Shepard entered hell on October 12, 1998, the day he died from his brutal beatings. It is Phelps’ proposed actions that caused the Boise City Council to vote to remove the 10 Commandments monument from the park to avoid a lawsuit from Phelps. This action started a chain of protests throughout early 2004 and includes the currently proposed visit. "We really see no need to set up another counter protest" said Jim Smith, co-chair of Your Family, Friends, and Neighbors, Inc. (YFFN), "Phelps has been to Boise twice and we’ve been able to muster 30-50 times the number of people he attracts. We have better things to do than to help draw attention to his hateful actions." Phelps plans to protest City Hall and HP during his upcoming visit. The previous Phelps protests have featured his family holding signs saying "Thank God for Sept. 11" and included actions such as grinding the American flag under their feet. "They really try to infuriate people into attacking them so that they can proceed to sue the attacker, and the city for not provided adequate protection, " said Javier Smith of YFFN. Perhaps if the city of Boise can show him we are not interested, he will find another place to foment his anger. This is a joint press release of:
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