Anti-gay group plans picket
Attacks Dracut school after student wins contest with Ellen DeGeneres essay
By DENNIS SHAUGHNESSEY, Sun Staff
DRACUT -- A Kansas-based evangelical group plans to picket Englesby Intermediate School June 6 after a student won an essay contest writing about openly gay comedienne Ellen DeGeneres.
A flier from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka singles out a Women in History essay written by a 12-year-old student who chose DeGeneres as her subject. The invective-laden leaflet includes a photo of the Englesby School and a grotesque devil. The diatribe attacks the staff, labeling it a “homo-fascist regime,” among other things.
Acting Police Chief Kevin Richardson said he received a communication from Fred Phelps, pastor of the Kansas church, asking for information about securing the proper permits. Richardson recoiled when shown the flier, saying, “No, we didn't get this.”
Richardson is reviewing the church's permit applications. He said a meeting is planned for Monday between his department, Town Manager Dennis Piendak and Superintendent of Schools Elaine Espindle to come up with a strategy to handle the protest.
“Right now, I don't think I could issue a permit, especially if they're going to be on school grounds. It will disrupt the school day,” Richardson said. “It's a balancing act. On one hand we want to make sure everyone is safe, but we can't violate their civil rights.”
Richardson said he has no idea how many protesters would attend.
“It could be just two people. We have no idea,” he said. “But we'll have a solid game plan in place.”
Reached by phone, Phelps acknowledged that the flier came from his church, but would not say how he knew about the essay.
“I don't know if I could give you a name. We receive e-mails from all over the country informing us of these things,” he said. “We had about 22,000 last year. It may have just been the case where we saw it online. We have people all over the country who go online and look for these things. They contact us and we follow up on it.”
Phelps gained notoriety by demonstrating at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old Wyoming man who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in 1998. Phelps and his supporters stood across the street from the church shouting at the mourners and holding signs that read, “Matthew is in hell.”
Phelps said the demonstrators coming to Dracut are not necessarily from his church.
“We have a network of people across the country and a bunch of lawyers who handle the legal,” he said.
Asked about the incendiary nature of the epithet-laced flier, Phelps said, “I'm just like Harry Truman. He didn't start out giving them hell and I don't give them hell, but I preach it like American preachers preached in days gone by.”
An initial complaint about the essay was lodged with the School Department by Bernadette and Dino Theodore, who live on Methuen Street.
“A woman's sexuality has no bearing on whether they are a woman in history,” Bernadette Theodore told The Sun. “There's no place for this in the public schools. These children at the Englesby are 9 to 12 years old. There is a parental notification law. The school should have given us the opportunity to at least tell our children that this was coming.”
The Theodores said they knew nothing about the flier or the planned demonstration.
“I solemnly swear that it didn't come from us,” said Bernadette. “I strongly disagree that the Ellen DeGeneres essay should have gotten an award, but I'm not a hateful person. We had nothing to do with that flier.”
The Theodores said there are several families who feel as they do, although they could not provide names.
“It's starting to snowball,” Dino Theodore said. “People are upset. The paper that was submitted for approval had nothing to do with women in history. It had nothing to do with the intention of the assignment. But their view seems to be that she's gay and she's a woman in history. That (decision) speaks for itself.”
The Theodores contend that the essay was reviewed by school Principal Robert Young, Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Linda Trouville and Espindle, who made the final decision.
Young did not return calls to his office. A secretary said that all inquiries had to go through the administration office. Espindle did not return repeated calls to her office. She was unavailable when a reporter visited her office. The Sun could not obtain a copy of the essay.
The Englesby Intermediate School houses students in the fifth and sixth grade. The church plans to have picketers outside the school on June 6.
The Kansas church has also planned a demonstration on June 5 at Lexington High School's graduation at the Tsongas Arena. A separate flier from the church targets Lexington High School for having recognized such groups as the Gay-Straight Alliance Club.
http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_2733877
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