Posted on Nov 11, 2026 UTC

This article contains imagery of anti-gay and other hateful protest signs that some readers may find upsetting.

In 2007, British journalist Louis Theroux peeled back the curtain on the Westboro Baptist Church — a notoriously extremist religious group, best known for its incredibly hateful anti-gay rhetoric — in his documentary The Most Hated Family in America .

If you need reminding, the Westboro Baptist Church was founded in 1955 by Fred Phelps, and largely consists of the Phelps family and those who married into it. At its peak, the church only had around 70–80 members, and membership has declined in recent years as people have chosen to leave.

And one of the people to leave is Megan Phelps-Roper, Fred’s granddaughter, who stepped away from the church and, subsequently, much of her family in 2012, instead becoming an activist who now publicly challenges Westboro’s beliefs.

Megan was just 5 years old when she started joining in the church’s protests, with the group known for…