SFist Interviews Pastor Fred Phelps, Gets His Take on Same-Sex Marriage
Always up for a round of fair-and-balanced reporting, SFist had the wonderful opportunity this afternoon to speak with Pastor Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church and ask him a few questions regarding his thoughts on same-sex marriage in California, which is set to be legal today at 5:01 p.m. Phelps is set to hit the steps of City Hall in protest at the same time.
"I don't think he should have defied the law," said Phelps, when asked about Mayor Gavin Newsom's 2004 decision to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. "Didn't that already happen? We've discussed this before." Phelps advised that he already issued statements regarding Mayor Newsom and the 2004 same-sex marriages in San Francisco.
We asked about Phelps' feelings about the May 2008 decision by the Supreme Court of California to strike down the California constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. "Same-sex marriage is a done deal. It's a done deal. What will happen to the State of California when it becomes legal? Well, a flood of humanity will come into your state. It will help your strapped state economy," Phelps said, with a chuckle.
"Tim Russert promoted the fag agenda. There are tapes that were released after he died ... tapes showing Russert embracing homosexuality." Fortunately, we got the Pastor back on track by asking about other (alive) celebrities, namely Ellen DeGeneres and George Takei, and whether their marriages will shed a positive or negative light on the issue.
"It doesn't matter. They've been promoting the homosexual agenda for a long time. It does not matter at all," replied Phelps. "Oh, and Obama, and his fag agenda. He's a celebrity too, you know?"
We all had a brief laugh for a moment.
Overall, the Pastor was very pleasant during our interview. He wished us a lovely afternoon as we disconnected the call. We're certain he has a lot on his own agenda for today and we didn't wish to monopolize more of his time.