Reese Witherspoon is making a ‘God Hates Fags’ church biopic
A movie is production based on the notoriously homophobic Westboro Baptist Church.
Westboro is notorious for its opposition to “fags” and “fag-enablers”, picketing anything related to LGBT equality as part of its quest to spread a message of hatred.
A new film is based on an account of the life of Megan Phelps-Roper, who was raised being indoctrinated by the Topeka, Kansas-based church.
Megan, the daughter of the church’s notorious spokesperson Shirley Phelps-Roper, broke away from the church in 2012 along with her sister.
Since leaving the church she has been ‘excommunicated’ from her family, and has no contact with any relatives who remain within the church.
On Twitter, Megan Phelps-Roper appeared to confirm reports that Legally Blonde star Reese Witherspoon is involved in the project, amid rumours that Witherspoon is to play the starring role.
She tweeted: “Craziness continues: Just finished my book, and now @RWitherspoon @MarcW @NickHornby & @CNE are working on a film!”
Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb and About a Boy screenwriter Nick Hornby are the creative brains behind the project, titled ‘Above It All’.
Dawn Ostroff and Jeremy Steckler of Conde Nast Entertainment said: “When we read the New Yorker article about Megan’s incredible journey, we knew that it was the perfect fit for CNE’s film group.
“Marc and Nick both have a powerful vision of how to tell Megan’s story and we are very happy to be partnered with Reese, Bruna [Papandrea] and Bill [Pohlad], who understand the importance of bringing this project to the big screen.”
The article is based on Megan Phelps-Roper’s upcoming memoir, as well as a New Yorker article about her life penned by Adrian Chen.
Watch: Former ‘God Hates Fags’ protester explains what finally broke her indoctrination
The WBC travelled to Orlando last year, with the intention of protesting as many funerals as possible with ‘God Hates Fags’ signs after the Pulse club massacre.
However, hundreds of local residents thwarted the group’s attempts – turning up ahead of Westboro and forming a human chain around the memorial locations.
Extreme anti-gay pastor Scott Lively claimed that the Westboro Baptist Church is a ‘false flag’ operation run by the US government.
He claimed: “It defies reason that these groups aren’t infiltrated by undercover government agents.
“If you’re a war gamer, there’s no better asset on the field than your own agent posing as an enemy extremist.
“I always suspected, without proof, that the Westboro Baptist Church ‘God Hates Fags’ group was their asset in the ‘gay marriage’ battle.
“What better way to hurt the pro-family movement than to have a supposedly ‘anti-gay’ group stage obscene protests at the funerals of combat veterans in front of network television cameras.
“What better way to discredit conservative populists than TV footage of rallies where conservatives mix with Nazis (real or planted) carrying racist and antisemitic signs?”
Next: Gay business owner runs for mayor in ‘God Hates Fags’ church hometown
