Westboro Baptist Church Archives

Razer calls on Missouri House Speaker to help pass sexual orientation bill

May 6, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Legislation that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to Missouri’s Human Rights statute is scheduled to be heard Wednesday by a House committee in Jefferson City.

State Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, speaks on the Missouri House floor on March 28, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, has referred the bill to the House General Laws Committee.

“I do think that the conversation on MONA is a good one for the Legislature to have. I don’t know that the issue is necessarily right, but I think that’s what the committee process is for to work through the issue and figure out if there’s a path forward for it,” Haahr tells the Capitol Press Corps.

The bill is sponsored by State Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, who is gay. Representative Razer’s legislation would prohibit discrimination based upon a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Discrimination would include unlawful housing practices and the denial of the right to use public accommodations.

Razer spoke at a separate press conference on Thursday, joined by other House Democrats. Razer is calling on Missouri House GOP leaders to speak out against the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church’s protest last Thursday at the Capitol.

Razer says Westboro protested Thursday against him and other LGBT legislators, and says it’s time to pass House bill 208.

“People can lose their homes, people can lose their jobs, people can be denied service at a restaurant because they are gay or lesbian,” says Razer.

During his press conference, Razer called on Speaker Haahr to use his influence and power, to help pass the legislation. He spent much of the time referencing the Westboro protest.

“LGBT teenagers are five times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. Yet, what we get from the leadership in this building (Missouri Capitol) is silence and inaction,” Razer says.

Speaker Haahr tells Capitol reporters that Westboro Baptist Church “thrives on the attention we pay them, and so I pay them none.” Haahr also emphasizes he’s referred Razer’s bill to committee for the hearing.

The 2019 legislative session ends on May 17, so timing will be a factor. The state Constitution requires lawmakers to approve a balanced budget by Friday, so the budget will get a lot of attention in both chambers this week.

“We can get this done. We can get this done in two weeks,” Razer says.

House General Laws Committee Chairman Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, tells Missourinet that Razer’s bill is tentatively scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, upon morning adjournment.

Gov. Nixon signs bill to restrict protests at funerals

June 20, 2014 By Mike Lear

Legislation has been signed into law by Governor Jay Nixon (D) that is meant to protect families of fallen Missouri soldiers from protests at funeral services.

Representative Stanley Cox (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Stanley Cox carried HB 1372 in the state House. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bill 1372 makes it a class “B” misdemeanor to protest within 300 feet of the site of a funeral within an hour before or after a funeral or burial service. A class “B” misdemeanor carries up to six months in jail. The offense increases to a class “A” misdemeanor for repeat offenders, and could face up to a year in jail.

The restrictions do not apply to a funeral procession outside the 300 foot buffer zone.

The law is based on one that was passed by the City of Manchester and was upheld by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis when a court challenge was brought by Shirley Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. It is that organization’s protests that prompted the law’s restrictions.

The bill was passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate.

Westboro Baptist Church to continue to challenge laws banning funeral protests

March 13, 2014 By Jessica Machetta

A state law that forces funeral protesters to stay 300 feet from has been upheld by the Federal District Court for the Western District of Missouri, but that won’t stop members of Westboro Baptist Church from picketing, nor will it keep them from filing suits that claim the law is unconstitutional.

“The latest ruling was a teeny tiny skirmish in a bigger war,” said Margie Phelps, eldest daughter of Westboro’s leader, Fred Phelps. “The bigger issue that’s being litigated and will probably make its way back to the Supreme Court — either out of Missouri or Nebraska — is whether we’re going to gut the first amendment.”

Margie Phelps and her sister, Shirley Phelps-Roper, have led the legal challenges to the law, claiming it infringes on a right to free speech. The ACLU agrees with them.

“And by that I mean start putting massive distances between big mobs that are out engaged in patriotic pep rallies outside these death events and this little church with its picket signs with an opposing message, that’s really what the battle is,” Margie Phelps said. “And of course that’s against the backdrop of a bigger battle, which is the soul of this nation.”

She said the law is prohibitive because it allows certain groups to gather outside of funerals, but not others.

“It’s a misnomer that they’re there to block us,” she said. “That’s an urban legend that’s been perpetuated by the media. Long before we ever started going out with picket signs to these death events — for at least two years — these bikers and military and citizens were piling up en masse outside these events with a ‘God Bless America,’ flag something approach.”

Margie Phelps said members of the Westboro Baptist Church finally decided that their counter message would create balance.

“It is not a blessing for your young son or young daughter to come home in little pieces in a body bag,” she said. “So we joined the discussion. They’re not there to block us. They’re there to rage against God for what he’s doing to their soldiers.”

Now, she says, the question for the United States Supreme Court is, do they hate the church’s message so much that they will keep piling hundreds of feet onto where church members are allowed to picket.

“Meanwhile, everyone else and their uncle and their dog can be right outside the front door,” she said.

Margie Phelps said as long as there is a first amendment, and the United States claims to be a nation of laws, members of the Westboro Baptist Church will continue to carry its anti-gay message to venues it deems appropriate.

“When you pass laws against us and they become prohibitive in how they’re applied, we’ll challenge the laws and hold your feet to the fire of your own laws,” she said. “But more important than that, you can put us a million feet away and we’re still going to stand out there with signs and work with social media that was invented for us, and in every lawful way, put these words before this generation’s eyes, because that’s our duty.”