Anti-Gay Rev. Fred Phelps Declares Bill Gates a ``Sodomite`` on GAYBC Radio Network.

SEATTLE--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Dec. 9, 1999--

Bill Gates is a "Sodomite King," said Rev. Fred Phelps, head of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church.

Phelps made this comment yesterday during a telephone interview on The Mike Webb Show on the GAYBC Radio Network (www.gaybc.com), a division of Stellar Networks. Webb invited Phelps on his program after learning that the rabidly homophobic minister, who is best known for picketing funerals of Gay people, was planning to meet later in the day with the Rev. Mel White.

White, who operates an organization called SoulForce, recently met with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, in an attempt to get the Lynchburg, Va.-based televangelist to tone down his anti-Gay rhetoric. On Wednesday, Phelps told Webb that he would be meeting with White privately, after White turned down an opportunity to publicly debate the fundamentalist preacher. Phelps told the GAYBC Radio audience that he would begin to listen to the "silly" perspectives of Gays when they are capable of reproducing abundantly, as God calls for humans to do in the Bible.

Mike Webb, who is no stranger to rattling cages and drawing hypocrisy into the limelight, took the tongue-in-cheek perspective of being on Phelps' side throughout the interview. "The result," says GAYBC's programming chief John McMullen, "was Phelps' taking all the rope he needed to hang himself with the audience."

Citing scripture at numerous points throughout the conversation, Rev. Phelps pointed out on The Mike Webb Show that Gays and Lesbians were in the same class with other "beasts" like "dogs who eat their own vomit."

Rev. Phelps Web site, www.godhatesfags.com, features everything from anti-Gay scripture to images of slain college student Matthew Shepard buring in Hell. Before ending their conversation, Phelps also divulged to Webb that just before his death, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was working on a piece for George magazine and agreed that God does "hate fags."

"Most anti-Gay Christians don't even want to be lumped in with this guy," said Webb. "His 'God Hates Fags' and 'AIDS Cures Fags' picket signs are enough to make you heave. People like Phelps, on the surface, appear harmless. But, it's important to pay attention to them because their actions inspire other nut-cases to commit hate crimes."

The Mike Webb Show is heard on the GAYBC Radio Network every weekday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific Time, 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, exclusively at www.gaybc.com. To hear the program, listeners need to have a multi-media capable personal computer and the free RealPlayer G2 software (available at www.real.com). Webb's interview with Phelps will be archived and available for listening on-demand beginning Thursday afternoon, December 9, on the GAYBC Radio home page.

The GAYBC Radio Network is the world's premier broadcasting service for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) communities. GAYBC offers listeners via the Internet original talk, news, music and special events programs. The company is a divison of Stellar Networks, Inc., and is based in Seattle, Washington. All programming is distributed in RealAudio format. GAYBC Radio Network is strategically partnered with the Gay.Com Network (the world's largest Gay online portal with more than 2 million unique monthly users) and the Advocate, a bi-weekly GLBT news magazine.