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The latter half of 2010 appeared to be an ambiguous time for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered advocates, as gains such as the move towards the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy happened at the same time as the highly publicized queer youth suicides from anti-gay bullying. The vehemence of bullying hate speech and the strident reaction from the conservative fringe around DADT needs to be queried and understood through the tools of the academy as a way of informing public policy. Using a mixed methods approach, this paper seeks to examine the rhetoric of the highly public hate group, the Westboro Baptist Church, known most famously for their protests at the funerals of fallen military servicemen and women. This particular group was chosen because of their focus on both the military and queer issues. Using a sample of data obtained from the Westboro Baptist Church’s website from the latter half of 2010, the various forms of representation, both of themselves, the military and sexual minorities, as well as the specific rhetoric strategies, are identified and analyzed through the analytic lens of critical discourse analysis (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Fairclough, 1995). Subsequently, using quantitative content analysis, a larger sample is examined for their adherence to the identified forms of representation and strategies. The discussion of the data uses Butler’s (1997) post-structuralist analysis of hate speech, suggesting ways to arrest, change and rehabilitate (instead of censoring) this particular form of hate speech, as a way of rendering it powerless. The paper ends by briefly considering the role of identity politics in this form of hate speech.

References
Butler, J. (1997). Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. New York and London: Routledge.
Chouliaraki, L., & Fairclough, N. (1999). Discourse in Late Modernity: Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold.