The Most Hated Family in America

BBC News article: The Most Hated Family in America

The patriarch of the Phelps family is the pastor of a Baptist church. His family protests the acceptance of homosexuals in society by picketing at various events including funerals of soldiers because they say that the war is God's punishment for tolerating homosexuality.

Reading the article, I agreed with Louis Theroux that this aspect of the family was indeed too extreme. However, I also observed that the article itself seemed to be written from the viewpoint that it is wrong to be anti-gay. So I wondered about how the "persecutors" will become the persecuted. Are the Phelps the "most hated family" because of their extreme behaviour, or because of their anti-homosexual stand? It seems like society is becoming more anti-anti-gay.