Libby Phelps Alvarez tells Anderson Cooper what it was like to grow up in the Westboro Baptist church’- which is essentially a hate group originated by her grandfather Fred Phelps, and is populated mainly by blood relatives. Few have escaped the clutches of Westboro, whose members bring very young children to their hate-filled protests.
Alvarez tells Cooper how she justified her actions when she was still a member of the church, and reveals what made her decide to leave after a life-time of brain-washing, and what consequences she now faces, as a non-entity to her own family and former friends.
Alvarez, who deeply regrets her former involvement in protests with her church ‘family’ comes face to face with the parents of a son who died in the service of his country, and whose funeral was disrupted by Westboro Baptist members, who carried (frequently misspelled) signs and confronted mourners with warnings of Hell and hateful anti-gay chants.
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