Former Westboro Protester Apologizes To Mother Of Slain Soldier - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

Former Westboro Protester Apologizes To Mother Of Slain Soldier

Posted: Updated:

YAHOO.COM -  A former member of the Westboro Baptist Church–a fringe group based in Topeka, Kan., that pickets soldiers' funerals–apologized to the mother of a 21-year-old soldier killed in Afghanistan on a talk show on Wednesday.

Libby Phelps Alvarez, the former Westboro member, apologized to Sherry and Randy Wyatt for picketing the funerals of fallen soldiers like their son on "Anderson Live" on Wednesday. Alvarez is the granddaughter of Fred Phelps, the group's founder, and has recently left the group. (Other members of the shrinking group have recently publicly defected as well.)

"I just feel sad ... and I'm sorry," Alvarez said. "I thought I was doing the right thing ... but I was just hurting people."

Westboro protesters set up picket lines outside funerals, holding signs that say soldiers are killed in action as a punishment for the existence of homosexuality. The Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that the Westboro group has a First Amendment right to protest at the funerals.

"Our son died to ensure freedom of assembly, to ensure freedom of speech, to ensure freedoms for those that are white, black, gay, straight, rich, poor," Sherry Wyatt said to Alvarez.

Wyatt thanked her local community for showing up at her son's July 21 funeral in Columbia, Mo., to form a wall of support between her family and any protesters. Wyatt's son, Sterling Wyatt, died July 11 in Kandahar province from an improvised explosive device while on patrol, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.

"We had thousands stand shoulder to shoulder in 105-degree heat," she said. "We had businesses bringing in water, we had our American Legion Auxiliary cooking hot dogs, we had people setting up health stations because of the heat. That's community. That is church."

Written by Liz Goodwon - Yahoo News

  • Most Popular StoriesMost Popular Stories

  • Tuesday, May 21 2013 3:46 PM EDT2013-05-21 19:46:46 GMT
    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The father of an 8-year-old Oklahoma boy says a teacher saved his son's life as a tornado tore into their school yesterday.
    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The father of an 8-year-old Oklahoma boy says a teacher saved his son's life as a tornado tore into their school yesterday.

  • Tuesday, May 21 2013 1:43 PM EDT2013-05-21 17:43:51 GMT
    BREAKING NEWS - The Medical Examiner's Office has revised the death toll in the Moore, Oklahoma tornado from 91 people to at least 24 people.
    UPDATE: Originally the death toll was reported to be 91 people and counting, however, the Medical examiner's office revised the death toll from the Oklahoma tornado to at least 24 people. A spokeswoman said Tuesday morning that she believes some victims were counted twice in the early chaos of the storm.

  • Tuesday, May 21 2013 3:31 PM EDT2013-05-21 19:31:19 GMT
    WASHINGTON (AP) - Wind, humidity and rainfall combined precisely to create the massive killer tornado in Moore, Okla.
    WASHINGTON (AP) - Wind, humidity and rainfall combined precisely to create the massive killer tornado in Moore, Okla. And when they did, the awesome amount of energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima. Meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press used real time measurements to calculate the energy released during the storm's life span of almost an hour.

  • National News

  • Wednesday, May 22 2013 12:24 AM EDT2013-05-22 04:24:09 GMT
    WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court is backing the U.S. government's decision not to release photos and video taken of Osama bin Laden during and after a raid in which the terrorist leader was killed by U.S. commandos.
    WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court is backing the U.S. government's decision not to release photos and video taken of Osama bin Laden during and after a raid in which the terrorist leader was killed by U.S. commandos.

  • Tuesday, May 21 2013 7:42 PM EDT2013-05-21 23:42:58 GMT
     
    HONOLULU (AP) - A Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Hawaii whose months-long disappearance led to a massive search is admitting to desertion.


     
    HONOLULU (AP) - A Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Hawaii whose months-long disappearance led to a massive search is admitting to desertion, saying he spent three months camping in the mountains of Oahu and didn't plan on ever returning to his job. Petty Officer 1st Class Russell Matthews pleaded guilty to desertion and using marijuana during a special court-martial in Honolulu on Tuesday.

  • Tuesday, May 21 2013 5:10 PM EDT2013-05-21 21:10:55 GMT
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate has voted to keep a $400 million annual cut - or roughly a half of 1 percent - to the food stamp program in a farm bill it is considering this week.
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate has voted to keep a $400 million annual cut - or roughly a half of 1 percent - to the food stamp program in a farm bill it is considering this week.
    •