Elizabeth Taylor's Friends Tell Hate Church to 'Bring It On'

By Rob Shuter Posted Mar 24th 2011 08:55AM

When Westboro Baptist Church spokeswoman Margie Phelps slithered onto Twitter on Wednesday to announce plans to protest Elizabeth Taylor's funeral, many were horrified, but not Dame Liz's vigilant friends. They say, "Bring it on!"

"Elizabeth spent her whole life fighting for what's right, and it looks like it will be no different now that she's gone," a close friend of the actress tells me.

Confidants correctly point out that the acting legend took on battling HIV and AIDS when there was still a huge amount of fear and stigma attached to the disease and those affected. That the yahoos at Westboro plan to publicly mock her compassion and dedication has only emboldened her friends.

"The only thing that would sadden Elizabeth about this protest was she still wasn't around to fight the ignorance and hate that still exists," the friend says. "But she need not worry. We have all her friends and family to continue her work for her."

The Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, led by Rev. Fred Phelps, has been making headlines for years by turning up at more than 800 funerals with signs reading "Thank God For Dead Soldiers" and others that say "God Hates You."

Yesterday, Margie Phelps repeatedly stated the group will "picket the funeral," but now she's saying they'll be "picketing the pep rally." This is central to the legal arguments that unfolded when the lawsuit of a dead soldier's family reached the U.S. Supreme Court. That led to a sweeping 8-1 ruling on March 2 in favor of Westboro's free speech defense.

► Barry Manilow Heartbroken at Pal Elizabeth Taylor's Death: 'Sad Day for Me'

The case ruled that Westboro protesters address issues of public concern -- that the "you" on their "God Hates You" signs was not a reference to one person but rather that God hates all sinners.

"Elizabeth would be the first to acknowledge that freedoms don't just exist when it's convenient," another friend of the late actress tells me. "But we have a voice, too. Don't get angry, get even. The best way to oppose these people is to make a donation to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation."

Which is exactly what I just did RIGHT HERE.

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Liz Taylor Snapshots

British born actor Elizabeth Taylor and her fourth husband American singer and actor Eddie Fisher arrive at a formal event, c. 1962. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Hulton Archive

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

British born actor Elizabeth Taylor and her fourth husband American singer and actor Eddie Fisher arrive at a formal event, c. 1962. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

(FILE PHOTO) US film star Elizabeth Taylor and her first husband Nick Hilton, of the hotelier family, on their wedding day. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

FILES)Elizabeth Taylor arrives on the red carpet for her performance of A.R. Gurney's play "Love Letters" starring Taylor and James Earl Jones, 01 December 2007 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California. Taylor, famed for her striking blue eyes and eight marriages as well a glittering film career, has died at the age of 79, a statement by her publicist said March 23, 2011. AFP PHOTO / Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

16th January 1958: Film star Elizabeth Taylor and husband, film producer Mike Todd, arriving at Heathrow. (Photo by Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

FILE - In this March 2, 1959 file photo, actress Elizabeth Taylor, accompanied by her physician, Dr. Rexford Kennamer, walks through Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago where she attended ceremony dedicating the grave marker of her late husband, showman Mike Todd who died a year earlier. On Wednesday, March 23, 2011, Taylor, the violet-eyed film goddess whose sultry screen life was often upstaged by her stormy personal life, died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where she had been hospitalized for about six weeks. She was 79. (AP Photo/Ed Maloney, File)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

HENDERSON, NV - FEBRUARY 27: (FILE PHOTO) Dame Elizabeth Taylor arrives with her children, (L-R) Michael Wilding Jr., Christopher Wilding, Maria Burton and Liza Todd Burton, for Taylor's 75th birthday party at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas on February 27, 2007 in Henderson, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

16th January 1958: Film star Elizabeth Taylor and husband, film producer Mike Todd, arriving at Heathrow. (Photo by Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

(FILE PHOTO) US film star Elizabeth Taylor and her first husband Nick Hilton, of the hotelier family, on their wedding day. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

British born actor Elizabeth Taylor and her fourth husband American singer and actor Eddie Fisher arrive at a formal event, c. 1962. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

(FILES) Movie star Elizabeth Taylor smiles as she appears before the Labor, Health and Human services Senate Subcommittee 08 May 1986 in Washington,DC.Taylor, famed for her striking blue eyes and eight marriages as well a glittering film career, has died at the age of 79, a statement by her publicist said March 23, 2011. AFP PHOTO/Jerome DELAY / FILES (Photo credit should read JEROME DELAY/AFP/Getty Images)

Elizabeth Taylor Snapshots

Tags: Elizabeth Taylor, Westboro Baptist Church

Comments

(103)

Thursday 24 March

By tara

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Westboro people are lunatics, and I don't think Elizabeth Taylor would have expected anything less from them. Her friends are right. Bring it on, and the rest of us should respond not with matched hate, but by supporting the cause that was so much a part of who she was. Perfect response.

By nestmission

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Let me say, that I am also a Baptist by conviction. But never in a million years would our church or any other Baptist church that I know of do something so horrible at some one's funeral. These people are over the line! As far as Liz Taylor is concerned, I cannot speak for her spiritually, but according to the scriptures...and these are not Baptist....she was an imoral person. She did lots of good for the world, but that does not get you into heaven. Only by accepting the Lord as your personal Savior gets you into heaven. The scriptures tell us that unless a person is born-again he/she cannot enter the kingdom of God. I am not the one to sit here and judge if Ms Taylor had ever accepted God as her Savior...that is something she will have to answer for in the judgement day. I am not her judge!

By robral61

These People are not People of God they are Spawn's of the Devil. In the end God will Judge them.

By C.J.

Where were you when they were mocking the funerals of the brave servicemen that gave the ultimate sacrifice. Because it's a celebrity now you've got something to say?

C.J. if you are asking me this question? I have been speaking up about these People. I just can't use the words I have been using to Discribe these people on this site. It took me 5 times to get to get this one posted.

By bizbee259

@tara uhhh... how would you have any idea if the OP hasn't actively gone to previous events and raised living hell about the "church?" You sound like a trolling moron.

Vote down Vote up Report this

That's supposed to be @CJ, not tara. Sorry about that.

By rickets99

We were always taught (in a Baptist church) that God hates sin, not "sinners." In addition, we dislike people who give religion a bad name because they are out to get a little attention...

By Joe

The Baptists? Aren't they the ones that said slavery & rascism are part of God's plan? They are the original hate church & seem to be bereft of Jesus & God wheather or not they're part of this little or the big denomination. They are all true sons of the devil.

By Matthew

Well Nest...sounds like you're idolizing your bible a little. I remember hearing someone somewhere saying something about reading from The Book Of Life being the most important act.

By Ronny

@CJ - Where we YOU when they were protesting the funeral of Matt Sheppard and of gay men that died of AIDS in the 90's?

Saturday 26 March

By CRStardust

@nestmission

You cannot call Elizabeth "immoral" and then claim you're not "judgmental"....oxymoronic and a contradiction in terminology....

By Mary

Those people are nuts. Let her family bury her and leave them alone. It's a hard enough time for them.

By zoot Rollo III

Done that - made a donation. I agree that hating this unfortunate group of mis-guided white trash is non-productive. I prefer to ignore them. The irony is that Jesus certainly would have been drawn to the very people they denounce. Makes you wonder what horrors the Phelps children were subjected to when they were young

The real question is, who's crazier... the Good Reverend Phelps, or the crazies that follow him and think that's a good idea?

By salfa1154

RIP Elizabeth.

By lynn

Again we all should go to Westboro on Sunday morning and protest while they are trying to have their "service".

Now that's a good idea

By dory in havasu

good idea, Lynn.....I have stated that same idea in blogs before....If I lived closer, I would make it a point, oh, once or twice a month, to go to their "Sunday worship"...(who do they worship, I wonder???!!)...and disrupt it...legally, of course....so, all you Westboro residents....make some signs, and take some cowbells...and GO TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY!!!!...and...RIP, Elizabeth!

By chris

good for you i am born again bible believing baptist and do no approve of what these people do it is disgusting

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