Editing Fred Phelps (section)

==Political activities==
===Anti-gay===
In the movie ''Hatemongers'', members of the Westboro Baptist Church state their children were being "accosted" by homosexuals in [[Gage Park, Topeka|Gage Park]], about a {{frac|2}}{{nbs}}mile {{nowrap|({{convert|1/2|mi|m|sigfig=1|disp=out}})}} from the Phelps' home and a mile {{nowrap|({{convert|1|mi|disp=out}})}} northwest of Westboro Baptist Church. [[Shirley Phelps-Roper]] says that, in the late 1980s, Fred Phelps claimed to have witnessed a homosexual attempting to lure her then five-year-old son Joshua into some shrubbery. After several complaints to the local government about the large amount of homosexual sex occurring in the park, with no resulting action, the Phelpses put up signs warning of homosexual activity. This resulted in much negative attention for the family. When the Phelpses called on local churches to speak against the activity in Gage Park, the churches also lashed out against the Phelps family, leading to the family protesting homosexuality on a regular basis.<ref name="ocweekly1999"/><ref name="phelps_dies_2014_03_20_wichita_eagle" />

In 2005, Phelps and his family, along with several other local congregations, held a signature drive to bring about a vote to repeal two city ordinances that added sexual orientation to a definition of [[hate crime]]s and banned the city itself from workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. Enough signatures were collected to bring the measure to a vote.<ref>{{citation|url=http://cjonline.com/stories/022705/mid_primaryquestion.shtml|title=Issue Becomes a Line in the Sand for Some|last=Hrenchir|first=Tim|work=[[The Topeka Capital-Journal]]|date=February 27, 2005|access-date=December 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408131929/http://cjonline.com/stories/022705/mid_primaryquestion.shtml|archive-date=April 8, 2014}}</ref> Topeka voters defeated the repeal measure on March 1, 2005, by a 53–47% margin. In the same election, Phelps' granddaughter Jael was an unsuccessful candidate for the Topeka City Council, seeking to replace Tiffany Muller, the first openly gay member of the council.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7053489|title=Topeka Voters Reject Repeal of Anti-Bias Law|date=March 2, 2005|work=[[MSN]]|access-date=December 10, 2012}}</ref>

===Electoral politics===
[[File:DNC4 7-27-2004.jpg|thumb|Phelps speaking at a picket at the [[2004 Democratic National Convention]]]]
Phelps ran in Kansas [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] primaries five times, but never won. These included races for governor in 1990, 1994, and 1998, receiving about 15 percent of the vote in 1998.<ref>{{citation|url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/05/kansas.results/|title=Kansas Primary Results|work=[[CNN]]|publisher=August 4, 1998|access-date=December 10, 2012}}</ref> In the 1992 Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate, Phelps received 31 percent of the vote.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.kssos.org/elections/elections_statistics.html|title=Election Statistics|publisher=State of Kansas|access-date=December 10, 2012}}</ref> Phelps ran for mayor of Topeka in 1993<ref name="musser1">{{citation|url=http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/musser.shtml|title=In-Depth: Fred Phelps|last=Musser|first=Rick|work=[[The Topeka Capital-Journal]]|access-date=December 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230064559/http://cjonline.com/indepth/phelps/musser.shtml|archive-date=December 30, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.religionnewsblog.com/1128/kansas-anti-gay-church-embarrasses-topekans|title=Kansas Anti-gay Church Embarrasses Topekans|last=Evans|first=Melissa|date=November 4, 2002|access-date=December 10, 2012}}</ref> and 1997.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Phelps supported [[Al Gore]] in the [[Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1988|1988 Democratic Party presidential primary]] election. In his [[United States Senate election in Tennessee, 1984|1984 Senate race]], Gore had opposed a "gay bill of rights" and stated that homosexuality was not something that "society should affirm", a position Gore had publicly changed by 2000 as his official position. Phelps stated that he supported Gore because of these earlier comments.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Andrea Drusch|access-date=2020-09-18|title=Fred Phelps: 10 things to know|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-church-104745.html|website=POLITICO|date=March 17, 2014 }}</ref>

In 1996 Phelps opposed Clinton's (and Gore's) re-election because of the administration's support for [[gay rights]]; the Westboro congregation picketed a 1997 inaugural ball.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.qrd.org/qrd/media/radio/thiswayout/summary/newswrap/1997/461-01.27.97|title=NewsWrap|last=Friedman|first=Cindy|date=January 27, 1997|access-date=December 10, 2012}}</ref>

===Saddam Hussein===
In 1997, Phelps wrote a letter to Iraqi President [[Saddam Hussein]], praising his regime for being "the only Muslim state that allows the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be freely and openly preached on the streets".<ref name="ITOW">{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/special_reports/wbc/wbc_on_america.asp|title=In Their Own Words: On America|publisher=Anti-Defamation League|year=2006|access-date=December 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005150347/http://www.adl.org/special_reports/wbc/wbc_on_america.asp|archive-date=October 5, 2012}}</ref>