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US: ‘God Hates Fags’ pastor’s granddaughter poses for NOH8 gay rights campaign

  • Jun 11 2014
  • Written by Nick Duffy
Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

Libby Phelps – the granddaughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps – has posed for the NOH8 campaign.

Phelps left the notoriously anti-gay church in 2009, and earlier this year gave an interview condemning it.

She said: “They think that they are the only ones who are going to heaven and if you don’t go to that church you’re going to hell.

“There was a point when we started praying for people to die… I didn’t actually do that but I was around when they did it.”

She has this week become the first Phelps to pose for the NOH8 campaign, along with campaigners from Equality House.

Posting the photo on Twitter, she wrote: “The message is simple: No hate. We want people to be happy, healthy and hopeful.”

Lauren Drain was the first former member of the church to pose for the campaign last year, but Libby Phelps is the first known Phelps family member to do so.

Following the death of the church’s pastor Fred Phelps earlier this year, his grandson Zach Phelps-Roper split away from the church and condemned it a a “mind trap”.

He recently claimed that his grandfather had recanted his anti-gay views before his death, leading to him being forced out the church by the more militant members.

Fred Phelps’ son Nate Phelps, who broke away from the church and became an atheist, had broken the news of his imminent death in March.

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