Fred Phelps - Leader

Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. was an American pastor who headed the Westboro Baptist Church, an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas. Phelps attained notoriety primarily from his vehemently anti-gay activism and his picketing of funerals of gays and soldiers.

Gay rights supporters denounced him as a producer of anti-gay propaganda and violence-inspiring hate speech. The church is widely considered to be a hate group, and is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center.