Anti-gay group to protest NIU funerals

WONDER LAKE, Ill., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A Baptist group led by the Rev. Fred Phelps will protest the funerals of two victims of the Illinois campus shootings saying it was God's revenge against gays.

Steven Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire in a geology class last Thursday at Northern Illinois University killing five students and later himself.

Phelps leads members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas who protest the funerals of Iraqi war veterans, claiming their deaths are God's revenge against homosexuals.

A release on the group's Web site says it considers the shootings an act of God, the Arlington Heights (Ill) Daily Herald said Monday.

The group said it planned to protest the funerals of Catalina Garcia and Ryanne Mace because Northern Illinois University hosted a seminar with another preacher who disagreed with Phelps' views.