As thousands of Michigan, Louisville, Witchita State and Syracuse college basketball fans made their way into the Georgia Dome on Saturday, they were confronted by the unmistakable anti-gay picket signs frequently paraded outside of LGBT events and U.S. military funerals by Westboro Baptist Church.
Around eight members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested in Atlanta over the weekend outside of the Georgia Dome during the NCAA Basketball Final Four tournament. Shirley Phelps-Roper is the matriarch of Westboro Baptist Church and daughter of church founder Fred Phelps.
“You need to have a case study. His name is Magic Johnson,” Phelps-Roper said. “Just use him as the beginning point. Remember, he did some Final Fours. The end of that matter is a fag son, he's got AIDS, and they're all headed to hell.”
Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church is coming to town, and I couldn’t be happier.
The “God Hates Fags” clan from Topeka, Kan., has announced plans to be in Atlanta for two days in April to protest targets ranging from the NCAA Basketball “Final Four” at the Georgia Dome on April 6 to three congregations — Creflo Dollar’s World Changers Church International in Atlanta, Beulah Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur, and Basilica of The Sacred Heart of Jesus in Atlanta — April 7.
“You won’t go into the Final Four Atlanta orgy-of-gross-drunken-nasty-reveling without being warned by the faithful servants of WBC, with this core message, timely and topical at this hour: Fag marriage dooms nations,” the pseudo-church warns on its website.
Still thrilled about sitting on your couch and cheering for the women's Olympic basketball team playing in London either on NBC or your laptop?
You now have a chance to put your seats in a stadium see Dream star and Team USA star Angel McCoughtry in person while also supporting LGBT equality as part of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream very first LGBT Pride night on Aug. 30 when the Dream takes on the Washington Mystics at Philips Arena.
The Atlanta Dream, the city’s professional women's basketball team, will join the Human Rights Campaign to host a meet-and-greet with players and team executives on Friday, Aug. 19.
Fans will have an opportunity to mingle with members of the 2010 Eastern Conference Championship team for about an hour before the game. Tickets, with a special promotion code, have been reduced to $15 (use promo code “HRC” when purchasing tickets for discounted rate).
The Dream will play against Eastern Conference rivals the Connecticut Sun starting at 7:30 p.m.
An after-party for attendees will take place at Bellissima.