Topeka Has Strained Relationship With Westboro Baptist Church Leaders

Today's New York Times explores the relationship between the city of Topeka, Kansas and the Phelps family, leaders of the Westboro Baptist Church that was at the center of a Supreme Court argument last week over free speech rights. (See prior posting.) Here are some excerpts from the Times account:

The city has tried and failed for decades to rid itself of the Phelpses, or at the very least to quiet them a bit. There have been counterprotests, violent attacks and endless rounds of legal efforts trying to silence them or force them out. But much to the embarrassment of the conflict-averse residents of this capital city of about 125,000, Mr. Phelps remains perhaps Topeka’s most famous resident....

But as the years of conflict have turned to decades, the city has settled into a tenuous, if mutually disdainful, co-existence with the Phelpses. The children of Mr. Phelps work white-collar jobs: 11 of the 13 are lawyers, including the three daughters who appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. (Mr. Phelps was disbarred in 1979.) His 56 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren attend public school.