The Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket the funeral of former Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, the church said Thursday. Palo Alto police officials said the protests would be permitted.
October 6, 2011
The Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket the funeral of former Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, the church said Thursday. Palo Alto police officials said the protests would be permitted.
"THANK GOD! Steve Jobs is dead! Westboro will picket his funeral!" a church blog claims, linked to from the church's main Web site.
The blog then goes on to claim that Jobs was responsible for gay marriage, which will "bring your destruction," it claims.
Plans to picket the Jobs funeral have not been added to the WBC's picket page, most probably because the Jobs family has not said whether they will hold a public funeral for Jobs, let alone announced a date.
, from what was believed to be complications of pancreatic cancer. His family claimed he ", surrounded by family. He was 56.
Sandra Brown, a spokeswoman for the Palo Alto Police Department, said that the police department had confirmed the church's plans to picket the funeral, and would be allowed to do so. What was not known, she said, was whether or not the funeral will be held in the city. Although Jobs was a Palo Alto resident, the city has just one cemetery, the nondenominational Alta Mesa Memorial Park.
Brown said that the WBC demonstrated outside funerals held for several students who committed suicide at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto last year. "We protected them, and we gave them a location for them to protest at, because it's a matter of free speech," Brown said. "It was fine; nobody charged them or anything. So if they want to show up for this, it would probably be the same way."
The WBC, established in 1955 by Pastor Fred Phelps, claims to adhere to the teachings of the Bible, preaching against "all forms of sin," including "fornication," "divorce and remarriage," and "sodomy". The church claims that it has conducted over 46,000 demonstrations since June 1991, carrying signs that denounce homosexuality.
On Thursday, fans and Apple customers , and Jobs was as well as by and the .