Editing Westboro Baptist Church (section)

===UK entry ban===
In February 2009, UK news sources discovered that WBC had announced on their website that they intended to picket a youth production of ''The Laramie Project'' to be held at Central Studio, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary%27s_College Queen Mary's College] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basingstoke Basingstoke] on February 20, 2009. This would have been their first ever picket in the UK.

On the lead-up to the picket, a number of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_of_Parliament MPs], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_group lobby groups] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT LGBT] groups appealed to the UK's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Secretary Home Secretary], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqui_Smith Jacqui Smith], requesting these individuals be blocked from entering the UK, on the basis that WBC would be inciting hatred towards LGBT people. On February 18, 2009, two days before the intended picket date, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Office Home Office] announced that [http://real-life-villains.wikia.com/wiki/Fred_Phelps Fred Phelps] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Phelps-Roper Shirley Phelps-Roper] would be specifically [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_individuals_banned_from_entering_the_United_Kingdom excluded from entering the UK] for having "engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities", and that "other church members could also be flagged and stopped if they tried to enter Britain".<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/4696132/US-Church-which-calls-for-homosexuals-to-be-killed-banned-from-UK.html US Church which calls for homosexuals to be killed banned from UK], ''The Telegraph''</ref>

An alliance of six UK religious groups (the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_Union_of_Great_Britain Baptist Union of Great Britain], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Alliance Evangelical Alliance] UK, Faithworks, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodist_Church_of_Great_Britain Methodist Church of Great Britain], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Reformed_Church United Reformed Church] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_Foreign_Bible_Society Bible Society]-funded thinktank [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theos_%28think_tank%29 Theos]) made a joint statement on February 19, 2009 in support of the government's decision and condemning the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church saying, "We do not share [Westboro's] hatred of lesbian and gay people. We believe that God loves all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and we unreservedly stand against their message of hate toward those communities."