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Samantha Hayes reportingFRED PHELPS/PASTOR WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH: "MATTHEW SHEPARD HAS BEEN IN HELL FOR 5 YEARS NOW AND HE HAS ETERNITY LEFT TO GO."
That's the message a pastor wants to place on a monument in a Casper, Wyoming city park -- next to one of the 10 comandments.
The advocate for a monument that would display an anti-gay message insists it would be perfectly legal in that Wyoming city park, based on court decisions applied to Utah.
In short, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that if municipalities allow one monument....they have to allow all monuments.
You won't find the Ten Commandments on public property in Ogden and Salt Lake County.
Brian Barnard/Civil Rights Attorney: "THOSE TWO ENTITIES SAID WE DONT' WANT TO TAKE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS DOWN, THE 1OTH CIRCUIT COURT SAID FINE, YOU LEAVE THEM UP YOU ARE GOING TO PUT EVERYBODY'S UP."
That decision caught the attention of Fred Phelps, the pastor at Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.
His leads anti-gay protests around the nation. The next one may be in Casper, Wyoming.
Five years ago a gay college student named Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered. His case caused an outcry for gay tolerance. But not from Phelps. He plans to erect a monument that looks like this in the Casper city park next to the 10 commandments.
Fred Phelps / Pastor Westboro Baptist Church: "THE WORDS SAY MICHAEL SHEPARD ENTERED HELL ON OCTOBER 12TH, 1998 AT AGE 21 IN DEFIANCE OF GOD'S WARNING...THOU SHALT NOT LIE WITH MANKIND AS WITH WOMANKIND; IT IS AN ABOMINATION. LEVITICUS 18:22"
It's legal for Phelps to do this...UNLESS the city takes down the Ten Commandments.
Brian Barnard/Civil Rights Attorney: "WHEN THE CITY SAYS WELL WE ARE CHANGING THE NATURE OF THE FORUM, WE ARE REMOVING THE EAGLES 10 COMMANDMENTS AND HENCEFORTH NOBODY ELSE CAN PUT UP THE MONUMENT, THEN REVEREND PHELPS CAN'T PUT UP THE MONUMENT. "
If that's what happens, Phelps has another plan.
Fred Phelps / Pastor Westboro Baptist Church: "IF WE ARE LEFT WITH NO OPPORTUNITY THAT IS REASONABLE TO PUT THE MONUMENT IN THE CITY PARK IN CASPER THEN WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY OF BUYING PROPERTY AND ERECTING THE MONUMENT ON OUR OWN PROPERTY."
Casper officials oppose Phelps' monument and are considering giving the Ten Commandments back to the local Fraternal Order of Eagles.
