From Addicting Info: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/19/nate-phelps-talks-about-his-abusive-childhood-as-son-of-westboro-leader/
By T. Steelman
2013/03/19
The moment he turned 18, Nate Phelps fled his home and his abusive father, Fred, head of the Westboro Baptist Church. That was in 1976, but even now he still bears the emotional scars. After his escape, he spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital, diagnosed with PTSD. He eventually moved to California, married and had a family, ending up in Calgary, Alberta. Today, aged 53, Nate is telling his story, finding healing in speaking out against the hateful rhetoric that has become the trademark of Westboro and its members.
Nate is the sixth of 13 children and one of two – along with his older brother, Mark – to leave the family and the church established by his father, Fred Phelps. The tales of abuse are chilling:
“He had this old barber’s strap and used it so much that the last six inches were frayed, kind of like a cat-o-nine-tails, and he’d hit you with it and it’d wrap around your hips and rip the skin. By the time I turned eight I remember he had started using a mattock handle instead. Similar to a pickaxe handle, it was about 4ft long and bigger than a baseball bat.” Nate says his father would fly into rages and beat him and his siblings mercilessly: “Then he’d set the mattock down and hit them with his fist.” (source)
Mark Phelps, interviewed for this story which appeared in The Telegraph, recalls an incident in which his younger brother was bent backwards so far over the back of a church pew that he feared his back would break. As Nate struggled to escape, Fred split his head open. This sort of abuse was a common occurrence, according to the brothers.
Over a decade after Nate left the church began making news by picketing the funeral of Matthew Sheppard. They held up signs reading, “God hates Fags” and “No Tears For Queers,” getting plenty of attention in the process. Nate says that his father has always spoken out against homosexuality and that he has a tendency to use hyperbole and ugly rhetoric. His father believes that there is a special place in hell for gay people. However, Nate says that he didn’t see any hints that this would become a campaign for the church.
Continue reading at: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/19/nate-phelps-talks-about-his-abusive-childhood-as-son-of-westboro-leader/
