Some are familiar with Pastor Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) and his rants against homosexuality. For those unfamiliar, you can get your first taste at www.godhatesfags.com. The URL certainly seems to say it all.

If not, here is a more specific view: “[Matthew Shepard] will be in hell for eternity. All the candlelight vigils, all the tributes, all the acts of Congress, all the rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States, will not shorten his sentence by so much as one day,” says Phelps on his Web site. Because of this belief, Phelps and his followers picketed at Shepard’s funeral and also on Oct. 8, 2002, the four-year anniversary of Shepard’s “entry into Hell,” at the Colorado State vs. Wyoming football game. Shepard was a student at Wyoming at the time of his death.

Phelps was recently portrayed on the stage at our own Fisher Theatre in the production of “The Laramie Project” by senior Jason Hurst. It showed his roles protesting at the funeral of Shepard and also his picketing at the trial of one of the murderers. In both cases, the play showed compassion triumphing over hate with the song “Amazing Grace” and with Shepard’s friends surrounding Phelps while dressed like angels to block him from view.

The production of the play is one of the reasons Phelps has turned his outrageous tirades toward Iowa State. The religious zealot intends to grace us with his presence, obscene phrases and all, at the Iowa State vs. Kansas State game on Nov. 9 in Manhattan, Kan. This is according to a fax received by the Daily on Oct. 16. Other reasons for the campaign include Governor Vilsack’s “goofy, sinful scholarships for fags and dykes” and the belief that the “Iowa State Daily is a fag rag ISU propaganda mill touting the fag agenda.”

It cannot be said that Phelps’ view of our university is completely wrong. There are people who advocate homosexuality on this campus. However, there are others who feel perhaps as strongly as Phelps does, even if their words are not as insufferable as those spoken and written by the WBC. Phelps ignores those people and lumps them in with those who do not share his position. It is not a fair representation of this student body. Students who disagree with homosexuality speak out against it in the opinion section of this very newspaper.

Moreover, Phelps only began his intimidation tactics after he was portrayed on campus — not after reverse campaniling or Coming Out Week. If he was more concerned about homosexuality than an unflattering portrayal in a play, he would have mounted a campaign against the Daily and Iowa State long ago. However, it seems unless Phelps himself is attacked, he doesn’t criticize.

Editorial Board:Cavan Reagan, Amber Billings, Rachel Faber Machacha, Charlie Weaver, Zach Calef, Ayrel Clark.