Source 1: http://gaymarriage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004857

Background: This is a website that shows all the current data on gay marriage in the united states. It has graphs on where gay marriage is banned along with where it is allowed. It shows all the court decisions on the subject and is very detailed with reliable sources.

How I intend to use: I intend to use this source to lay a background of the current status of gay marriage in the United States. It will allow me to give a standard and explain how the Westboro Baptist church is improving that standard. Even though gay marriage is legal in some places, it is still banned in most of the US and I feel it is important to state that.

Source 2: KKK fights back against Westboro Baptist church

Background: This website is an article on the washington post about a counter protest done by the Ku Klux Klan to protest the Westboro Baptist church. It tells about a funeral in which President Barrack Obama attended and the Westbro Baptist church decided to protest. The Ku Klux Klan began a counter protest in which people joined in.

How I intend to use it: I think this is an important instance where the Ku Klux Klan even agreed that what this church was doing was indeed wrong. What amazes me more was that bystanders joined in alongside the Klan to help protest. People are willing to forgive the terrible stigma of the Ku Klux Klan to fight the chruch. This only supports my argument that the church is supporting the gay rights movement.

Source 3: Louis Theroux – The Most Hated Family in America

Background: This is a documentary of the Westboro Baptist church done by the British television channel BBC. Louis Theroux is interested in the Westboro Baptist church do to their extreme methods of spreading their religion, which turns out to be a religion of hate and bigotry toward homosexuals. BBC’s Louis Theroux takes a trip inside the church to not only figure out exactly why they are doing what they are doing, but to also try to reconcile it with himself and come to an understanding. He goes to protests with the group and attends one of their church meetings. He gets to talk to the pastor of the church along with many of the attendees. He learns about the pastor and how he has managed to brainwash the individuals of the church by psychologically preventing them from leaving through means of abandonment, but also even beatings.

How I intend to use: This documentary has a plethora of information that I can use in my essay. I get to see what it’s like to be in the church alongside the hate that the group receives on a daily basis. Seeing the pickets that the church does first hand allows me to realize that the feedback that the group receives is not mostly bad, but all bad. Louis even sees this and asks how the group why they think the picket was going well on a scale from 1 to 10, even though they had not had a single good reaction. They simply replied, “Every picket we do is a 10 out of 10”

source 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church

Background: This is a wikipedia page on the Westboro Baptist Church. Even though it is maybe not the best source of information, the article was featured in the past and is likely reliable.

How I intend to use: I used this page to get a general basis on the church. I knew a lot already on the subject, but it allowed me to refresh myself. One example is that I knew how the church became through the Snyder vs. Phelps case, but this page gave me more information on the topic which allowed me to right more.

Source 5: The effects of negative information transference in the celebrity endorsement relationship

Background: This is a study done by Union University on the negative effects of endorsement. The study was conducted in several groups. One group has handed a pamphlet along with a negative story on one of the endorsers of the product. The other group was just handed the pamphlet. The group that was handed the negative story formed poorer opinions on the product than the group that wasn’t.

How I intend to use: This is a scientific analysis of exactly what I am arguing. People see the Westboro Baptist church spreading hate and form negative opinions on the church. This proportionally leads to a dislike in what the church is portraying. This article well help me argue my point.

Source 6: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snyder_v._Phelps

Background: General information on the Snyder vs. Phelps case. It tells about the case and its resolution in the supreme court. Even though Snyder had originally won in civil court. The Supreme Court ruled the churches actions constitutional. This case made the Westboro Baptist church feel powerful and made them nearly untouchable.

How I intended to use it: I was going to write more on this case, however the more I wrote, the more I felt I was staying to long on the subject. I wrote about the case in my essay, but it still drove my point without the excess back story on the case.

Source 7: http://hypervocal.com/news/2012/15-inspiring-westboro-baptist-church-counter-protests/

Background: This article by India Kushner talks about what she think are the top 15 most inspiring counter protests to the church. Some of the protests were incredibly crafty and supportive to the other side of the argument. This article shows support on the other side of Westboro’s message.

How I intended to use it: I was going to use this article as a way of stating that people didn’t like the church, however I didn’t really need 15 examples to do so. I could’ve just said that people constantly counter protest the church, and had the same effect.

Source 8: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Phelps

Background: Son of Fred Phelps who escaped the WBC and is now protesting against the church. He speaks out about WBC and tells his story about when he was inside the church. He is one of many that have left the church and he travels to campuses to stop this kind of extreme religion.

How I intended to use it: I was going to explain his story and how he left the church, however I didn’t feel that it was necessary. Whether or not he left the church doesn’t really help my argument that the church is supporting the gay rights movement.

Source 9: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps

Background: Fred Phelps was the pastor of the Westboro Baptist church and father of many children in the church. He was a very energetic man for his age with very strange ideologies.

How I intended to use it: I was going to include Fred Phelps into the introduction of my essay. Instead I decided to write about the family as a whole rather than just Fred. Not a lot is known about Fred since he doesn’t usually go on pickets, likely due to his age. Also, he recently passed away and was apparently excommunicated from the church for reasons unknown.

Source 10: Tyra Banks Show – The Most Hated Family In America

Background: Tyra Banks brings three of the church members onto her show to explain their proposition. They give most of their opinions on society and how they feel about the direction the world is going in. They explain how all of the tragedies that happen in the world are because of sinful actions of homosexuals and others that break the commandments that god set.

How I intended to use it: I was going to use this video t0 show how easily the churches arguments can be shown to be pure hate. Shirley Phelps says that she doesn’t hate the gays, god does. She hides behind her religion as a way to continue to spread more hate.