By Mike Larson, Crain News Service
INDIANAPOLIS (April 18, 2014) — Those kooky homosexual haters are back at it.
The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., best known for its extreme ideologies, picketing soldiers' funerals and having not-so-wonderful opinions of the gay community—as well as not liking Formula One racing very much—has announced that it is planning on picketing the Indianapolis 500.
The church's founder, the Rev. Fred Waldron Phelps, died March 19 at the age of 85.
What reason could the radical gay-bashers have for protesting the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”?
According to the website http://www.godhatesfags.com/ of the group, which is not affiliated with any Baptist denomination, it all comes down to Jim Nabors and booze.
“The Indianapolis 500 has pushed homosexuality for more than 40 years by propping up [openly gay actor] Jim Nabors to sing ‘Back Home Again' [in Indiana] as a focal point for pre-race activities,” the church's website states. (Editor's note: 2014 will mark the 36th time Mr. Nabors has performed.)
The rant on the church's website, www.godhatesfags.com, continued to bag on Mr. Nabors and claim that the race was just an excuse to get drunk.
“The Indy 500 is nothing more than an excuse to sit around for a day and drink beer and get falling-down drunk. God hates drunks,” it says.
So, in order to let everyone know that Gomer Pyle and everyone clutching a case of Bud Light is going to hell, the Westboro folks will be picketing on race day from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 25.
The schedule doesn't say exactly where church members will be picketing, but judging from the huge influx of traffic and lack of parking near Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) on race days past, don't be surprised if you see some angry-looking people carrying bright-colored signs down Georgetown Road a mile or more from IMS.
This report appeared on the website of Autoweek magazine, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.