KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Norman Hintzmann, right, of Hawaii, took offense to the signs held yesterday by Katherine Hockenbarger, left, and Abigail Phelps, in back, at the corner of Lewers Street and Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki. Hintzmann said: "God loves everybody. That's what he went on the cross for." Phelps and Hockenbarger are with Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan.
Four members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., took to Honolulu streets yesterday to proclaim their message that God hates homosexuals and anyone who tolerates them. Mainland church stages
anti-gay display4 members show up to proclaim
that God hates homosexualsBy Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.comMore than a dozen Honolulu police officers stood by outside the Royal Hawaiian Shopping center in Waikiki, and again at the state Department of Education building, to ensure that the demonstrators' exercise of free speech did not incite violence.
The followers of the Rev. Fred Phelps, who was not at yesterday's demonstrations, regularly take his "God Hates Fags" campaign on the road. They adapted the subject to Hawaii with a "Thank God for Dec. 7" message joining their "Thank God for Sept. 11" staple.
They stood on a Hawaiian flag -- identified as "Fag Flag" -- and on an American flag, and added a cartoon message about homosexuals in the military.
The point of trampling flags, said Abigail Phelps, daughter of the preacher, is that "these are filthy institutions." Using the dates of disasters indicates that "God takes vengeance for sins," she said. "These people say they shall have protected class status because of their sins."
Phelps said they targeted the Department of Education building because of a pamphlet distributed in a Big Island public school last year that included questions referring to homosexuality.
Phelps said there are church people here who support their stand, but "they are hypocrites" because they are not visible. She said her father and others will be here for demonstrations Sunday outside several churches and the Arizona Memorial, and Monday at the state Supreme Court building.
The group's visit inspired several local groups to respond with calls for tolerance.
"As much as we support the right of individuals to express and demonstrate their views and opinions, his message of hate crosses the line of appropriate behavior and is not welcome in our land of aloha," said Beverly McCreary, a University of Hawaii gender equity counselor, in a statement from the Coalition for a Hate-Free Hawaii.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Representatives of several gay support groups and churches held a press conference yesterday at the state Capitol as the Coalition for a Hate-Free Hawaii. The Rev. Vaughn Beckman, interim conveyor for the Interfaith Alliance of Hawaii and pastor of First Christian Church in Makiki, spoke at the rally.
About 30 members of local churches, civil rights and gay support groups staged an afternoon news conference at the state Capitol.
Teen members of the Gay Straight Alliance of Kalaheo High School were in the group, as was Bill Hoshijo, executive director of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. He said the commission "calls on the people of Hawaii to reject and condemn this message of hate and the attacks, stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination which it fosters."
Coalition members said several groups agreed not to stage counterdemonstrations to defuse the impact of the Phelps group.
But members of Island Kane Ohana Network brought banners to both scenes proclaiming "Hate Is a Crime" and "God Loves Fags, Too," and they plan to follow Phelps' group to other locations on their agenda.
"It's important that the public sees there is an alternative, tolerance," said Jason Mossholder-Brom, spokesman for the group, a community health project for young gay, bisexual and transsexual men. "We're here so that passers-by get the other side of the story."
Waikiki resident Norman Hintzmann told Phelps, "Get into Scripture, God loves everybody." But other onlookers watched from a distance, none confronting the four somber female demonstrators.
"I don't think it's responsible of the media to give this as much attention," said Maureen Ford, a University of Toronto professor attending the International Conference on Education at the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel.
Alerted by fliers in which the hotel warned about the demonstration, Ford said she came and stayed because "I think it is important to demonstrate with a counterpresence."
