Anti-Gay Minister to Picket in O.C.

A Baptist minister who gained national notoriety by picketing the funeral of a gay hate-crime victim in Wyoming plans to bring his message opposing homosexuality to Orange County next month.

The Rev. Fred Phelps said he will bring 20 picketers to Laguna Beach City Hall on March 20 to protest a city policy on hate speech. He also plans to picket the Crystal Cathedral, which he condemns for what he says is a policy of accepting gays and lesbians, on March 19.

Phelps, 70, is pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. He organized a protest at the 1998 funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student murdered because of his sexual orientation.

Laguna Beach has attracted his ire because of a city policy adopted last year. Laguna Police Chief Jim Spreine ordered officers to document incidents of hate speech after a gay visitor complained that police did not take him seriously when he reported that he was subjected to anti-gay taunts.

Spreine said the policy is designed to protect everybody. “If you’re Jewish, Catholic, a person of color or have a certain political belief and comments of hatred are directed at you and you feel frightened, you can come into the Police Department and document your statement,” he said. “It’s not just for gays only.”

Crystal Cathedral chief operating officer Larry Sonnenburg described an announcement sent out by Phelps of his plans to picket the Garden Grove church as “very offensive . . . and not worthy of comment.”