Reply #5: It took over 200 years, but a guy like Phelps was bound to come along

[Azathoth]

He's highly intelligent, well-educated in the law, batshit insane, viciously anti-social, and on a God-given mission to see just how far he can abuse and exploit the First Amendment to hurt as many people as possible. In every free society, there are always going to be a few people like him who come along and make it their life's work to abuse and demonize the freedoms they enjoy. If it wasn't Phelps, it would be somebody else on an equally insane crusade.

As far as Phelps' funding goes, I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility that some type of VRWC has recognized his usefulness in their anti-first amendment agenda, but I'd say it's much more likely that he and his pathetic band of misanthropes are kept in business by the plethora of virulently homophobic groups in the country, most of whom publicly condemn Phelps and privately applaud every word he spews.