Anti-gay pastor targets Iowa churches

The Kansas preacher who burned the Iowa flag last month during an anti-gay protest plans to picket a church in northeast Iowa this weekend. Reverend Fred Phelps and members of his group plan to protest outside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dubuque on Sunday. Phelps, of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, says his group will also return to Des Moines on Sunday to picket four churches in the capitol city. Phelps claims the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America condones homosexual behavior. In February, Phelps and his followers protested Luther College’s Nordic Choir when it visited Kansas. Phelps claims Iowa’s preachers and churches are to blame for Governor Vilsack joining Judy Shepard, the mother of slain gay student Matthew Shepard. Vilsack and Mrs. Shepard recently announced Iowa college scholarships for openly gay high school students.(3 cuts, Roger King, KOEL, Oelwein)