Fred Phelps’s Son Is the Subject of a Documentary About His Abusive Childhood and Escaping Westboro
Caitlin Dickson
Nate Phelps, son of the late, hatemongering preacher Fred Phelps, is the subject of a documentary-in-the making about his abusive childhood and how he escaped life in the church.
Terrie Johnson was 52 years old and ready to die.
Shed known since fourth grade that she was gay, but to the conservative, Southern Baptist community in which shed been raised, Johnsons feelings were wrong. She lived much of her adult life in public, speaking on behalf of her church to Christian communities around the country, but she was hiding in plain sight. Shed married a man, had childrenchoices she doesnt regretbut she was living a lie. Finally, she reached a point where she could no longer continue the charade. She made a plan to commit suicide. Instead, she came out of the closet.
Not all of Johnsons family members were supportive of her revelation. Most of them werent. But her son, Brad, had her back. His mothers story reminded him of someone else who had escaped an extreme religious upbringing, one far more dire: Nate Phelps, the son of Fag-hating Westboro Baptist Church founder, Fred Phelps. As a Kansas native, Brad had long been familiar withand fascinated bythe hateful antics of the Topeka-based church. Hed heard about Nate, one of four of the 13 Phelps children who defected from the church, and who was speaking about his new life of LGBT activism. He wanted to tell Nates story and, in the process, he thought Nates journey could help his mother.
When the Johnsons reached out to Nate Phelps, they werent sure whether theyd even receive a response. Now, a little over a year later, theyre more than halfway through filming Not My Fathers Son, a documentary about the abuse that Nate and his siblings suffered at the hands of their father and how Nate finally escaped it. This week, the team created
a Kickstarter campaign, with a trailer for the film and a short appeal from Terrie, clad in suspenders and a purple paisley bowtie, for donations.
Weve been doing this on our own time and our own dime, Brad Johnson told The Daily Beast. Now were tapped out.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/09/fred-phelps-s-son-is-the-subject-of-a-documentary-about-his-abusive-childhood-and-escaping-westboro-baptist.html