FRAMINGHAM, MA – I got a call yesterday afternoon. The woman said a reporter left a message saying they were from Framingham and wanted to interview her, but didn’t leave a call-back number, so she searched the internet and found the phone number for framingham.com
She asked if she was reaching “a news outlet”, and I told her we do run some news articles along with other Framingham local community information.
Then I asked her, “Did you do something newsworthy?”
Her short reply, “we picket“.
I asked her name…
She said her name was Shirley Phelps-Roper. Then she said, “we were going to picket in your town on the 4th, but we’re going to come on the 3rd instead so more of the kids will be outside the school than will go to that fag play“.
She told me she’s “the lawyer for the [Westboro Baptist] church“, and that she answers the phone calls and email. Then rather proudly mentioned that she is one of 13 siblings, and she herself is the mother of 11 children.
Knowing I was talking to someone who loves the sound of their own voice, I gave Shirley a go-ahead “uh-huh” and said, “Oh, you’re from that church in Kansas“, and mentioned I’d read “something about it”.
Shirley went on about The Laramie Project (more…)