Westboro baptist church sandy hook elementary

According to its website, Westboro Baptist Church members will be picketing the funeral of Dawn Hochsprung, the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School who was killed trying to disarm the gunman who went on to kill 25 others at the school last week.

The funeral, set for today, will be in Woodbury, Conn.

The group's website -- whose url contains a homosexual slur --  lists opportunities to picket funerals around the country.

Under the heading of "Picket Schedule," the church's website reads today:

Woodbury Funeral Home in Woodbury, CT December 19, 2012 2:15' PM – 3:00 PM
WBC to picket the funeral of Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Hochsprung.

Two days ago, the hacker group Anonymous posted private information about  church members in response to the church's protest at a vigil for the victims of the shooting.

The Westboro Baptist Church is best known for picketing funerals of soldiers, usually holding signs with homosexual slurs.

Follow Debbie Lord on Twitter at Follow @DebbieMLord

American primitive baptist church and hate group

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American, unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, that was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group, and is known for its public protestsagainstgay people and for its usage of the phrases "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers". It also engages in hate speech against atheists, Jews, Muslims, transgender people, and other Christian denominations. The WBC's theology and practices are widely condemned by other Christian churches, including the Baptist World Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention, and by politicians and public figures, including former U.S. President Barack Obama.

WBC has been protesting against homosexuality since 1989. Within a few years, the group expanded to protesting across the country. They often protest at public and private events, including funerals, sports games, and concerts. The group protested at the funerals for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the West Nickel Mines School shooting. The group is known to deface the American flag or fly it upside down while protesting. It also draws counter-protests.

Although the group's right to protest and use hate speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the group has faced numerous legal challenges over its history. A 2006 Act of Congress called the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, created primarily due to WBC, placed restrictions on protests at some cemeteries. The 2010–2011 US Supreme Court case Snyder v. Phelps shielded the group from tort liability for a 2006 protest at a military funeral. WBC also files its own lawsuits via a Phelps family law firm (eleven of Phelps' children are lawyers), and has won cases that have yielded thousands of dollars for the group. Members of

Protests carried out by the Westboro Baptist Church

Westboro Baptist Church carries out daily picketing in Topeka, Kansas, and travels nationally to picket the funerals of gay victims of crimes or anti-gay attacks, as well as those of people who have died from complications related to AIDS. It also pickets other events related or peripherally related to homosexuality. It is the protesting of military funerals that led to the organization receiving much attention for its small size. Protests done by Westboro Baptist Church are characterized by defacement of the American flag, hate speech said by members to onlookers, and members holding signs with predominantly homophobic and anti-American statements.

The group has protested a number of high-profile events such as the funerals of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the West Nickel Mines School shooting. As well as protesting these high-profile events, WBC protests many local low-profile events, such as Kansas City Chiefsfootball games and live pop concerts. While the messages are widely condemned, the organization always ensures its protests are legal in nature through keeping the protests non-violent and acquiring the proper permits.

Protest activities

Early WBC protests

The group came into the national spotlight in 1998, when it was featured on CNN for picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a young man from Laramie, Wyoming, who was beaten to death by two men allegedly because of his homosexuality. WBC later picketed productions of The Laramie Project, a play based on Shepard's murder. Since then, WBC has attracted attention for many more actual and planned funeral pickets.

2000s

On January 25, 2004, Phelps picketed five churches (three Catholic and two Episcopalian) and the Federal Courthouse for wha

A man was arrested on Saturday after he tossed hot coffee at Westboro Baptist Church protesters outside of Beau Biden's funeral mass, according to the Delaware News Journal. 

The infamous group based in Topeka, Kansas, is often referred to as a "family-based cult” and is well known for its flagrant hate speech and offensive protests. On Saturday, the group picketed during the funeral of the vice president's son in Wilmington, Delaware – spurring outrage and a counter-protest from more than 100 people who gathered on the street in silence during the event at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church.

Beau Biden, former Delaware Attorney General and the eldest son of Vice President Joe Biden, died last week after a two-year battle with brain cancer. He was 46 years old and had his sights set on the governor’s race. In a heartfelt tribute, President Obama said Biden “lived a life for others."

In a flurry of tweets preceding Beau Biden’s funeral, users expressed their outrage toward Westboro Baptist Church and its history of hateful picketing practices. Following the funeral, one user expressed support of the unidentified man who threw his coffee on group members.

Widely described as a hate group, the church has no qualms when it comes to loudly touting its severe belief system – one notoriously characterized by its homophobic, anti-Semitic and anti-American views. They even sought to protest the funerals for children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

RELATED: Students stand up to Westboro Baptist Church

“WBC's message to yet-living Joe Biden and others present includes that both Biden men have been given many reminders of God's sovereignty yet have refused to obey His standards,” states the group on its website. “Man cannot continue in disobedience and defiance of God's standards without consequence. Biden has a life time of rebellion to seek repentance for