07-07-2007, 05:10 AM
[quote kj] Phelps tried to put a statue in one of our public parks. The community said "no", and constructed an Ann Frank memorial instead. There was no negativity on our part, and I'm glad. As far as the list, it would be for how to promote what is good, which is limited only by a person's creativity. kj.
A charming story. Boise reacts to Fred Phelps' request to memorialize Matthew Shepard's passage to hell at the hands of gay-bashers, by building a memorial to Anne Frank.
I am not sure of the logic here. "We will have no truck with backwards queer-bashers. See, we will build a memorial to a jewish girl who was killed by Nazis!"
I am even less sure of the chronology, though.
Do you have a citation?
As nearly as I can tell, the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial was dedicated in 2002.
Phelps' campaign to place the Matthew Shepherd monuments in 10 cities where overtly religious monuments already stood on public land was -- I believe -- launched in 2004. At least, the earliest news reports I could find about it all date to early 2004.
The only connection between Phelps and the Anne Frank Memorial that I could turn up is rather tortuous.
It appears that, rather than go to court over the issue, the city decided to move the 10 Commandments Monument -- which Phelps cited as his entrée into Julia Davis park -- to an Episcopal church.
Then, following the 2005 Supreme court decision that let a similar monument stand at the Texas Capitol, on the somewhat dubious argument that its religious meaning was diluted by being one monument among many, a group called the "Keep the Commandments Coalition" tried to have the monument moved back to the park.
They argued that the proximity of the the original site to the Anne Frank memorial and the Idaho Black History museum would activate the "one among many" exception to the disestablishment clause of the first amendment.
If you have evidence of a more direct link, please correct me.
Notwithstanding, it is an interesting question whether the city council found greater motivation to reject Phelps request in the desire to teach tolerance, or in the fear of ridicule -- and the likely political and economic consequences -- had they been compelled to consider the Reverend Phelps' application.
Edit: I found a reference to the Boise Parks and Recreation Commission rejecting Phelps' proposal in December of 2003.
Edit 2: Phelps was citing a 10th Circuit Court ruling from August 2002 in his request to have his "gay man enters Hell" monument sited on public land on which 10 Commandments monuments already stood.
A charming story. Boise reacts to Fred Phelps' request to memorialize Matthew Shepard's passage to hell at the hands of gay-bashers, by building a memorial to Anne Frank.
I am not sure of the logic here. "We will have no truck with backwards queer-bashers. See, we will build a memorial to a jewish girl who was killed by Nazis!"
I am even less sure of the chronology, though.
Do you have a citation?
As nearly as I can tell, the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial was dedicated in 2002.
Phelps' campaign to place the Matthew Shepherd monuments in 10 cities where overtly religious monuments already stood on public land was -- I believe -- launched in 2004. At least, the earliest news reports I could find about it all date to early 2004.
The only connection between Phelps and the Anne Frank Memorial that I could turn up is rather tortuous.
It appears that, rather than go to court over the issue, the city decided to move the 10 Commandments Monument -- which Phelps cited as his entrée into Julia Davis park -- to an Episcopal church.
Then, following the 2005 Supreme court decision that let a similar monument stand at the Texas Capitol, on the somewhat dubious argument that its religious meaning was diluted by being one monument among many, a group called the "Keep the Commandments Coalition" tried to have the monument moved back to the park.
They argued that the proximity of the the original site to the Anne Frank memorial and the Idaho Black History museum would activate the "one among many" exception to the disestablishment clause of the first amendment.
If you have evidence of a more direct link, please correct me.
Notwithstanding, it is an interesting question whether the city council found greater motivation to reject Phelps request in the desire to teach tolerance, or in the fear of ridicule -- and the likely political and economic consequences -- had they been compelled to consider the Reverend Phelps' application.
Edit: I found a reference to the Boise Parks and Recreation Commission rejecting Phelps' proposal in December of 2003.
Edit 2: Phelps was citing a 10th Circuit Court ruling from August 2002 in his request to have his "gay man enters Hell" monument sited on public land on which 10 Commandments monuments already stood.