By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

An anti-gay Topeka, Kan., church group intends to picket Saturday’s services for Sgt. Corey Dan, the Norway soldier killed a week ago in Iraq.

Westboro Baptist Church has been sending its members to memorial services and funerals of U.S. soldiers in an effort to call attention to its homophobic agenda.

Some of the protests nationally have angered families and friends of slain soldiers and infuriated veterans’ groups.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, an attorney for the church, said Sunday evening that she expects between eight and 15 picketers will be on hand for Dan’s funeral Saturday.

She said they’ll carry signs proclaiming “Thank God for dead soldiers” and sing a twist on God Bless America: “God hates America, land of the fags…”

The church, headed by Pastor Fred Phelps, has been protesting what Phelps-Roper called the nation’s failure to follow God’s will.

In announcing plans to picket Saturday’s funeral, the church sent out a message headlined, “Thank God for 4 more dead soldiers.”

It listed Dan as well as S/Sgt. Marco Silva, 27, of Florida and Pvt. Angelo Z. Zawaydeh. Both also were killed last week along with a fourth soldier not yet identified.

“They turned America over to fags; they’re coming home in body bags,” the announcement continued. “Westboro Baptist Church has a message from God for this evil, sodomite nation – America, at her peril continues to ignore us.”

Saturday’s protest will be the church’s first in Maine, said Phelps-Roper.

Sharon Bouchard, Dan’s grandmother and a spokeswoman for his family, said she respects the protesters’ rights to freedom of speech.

But, she added Sunday night, she’d encourage them to “go to the park, not to the school” to stage their demonstration.

Dan’s funeral has been set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.

Bouchard said a chaplain and a color guard from Dan’s unit, the 101st Airborne stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., will take part in the service. Gen. John W. “Bill” Libby, commander of the Maine National Guard, also is expected to attend the service, as is Gov. John Baldacci.

The funeral is being held at the high school in an effort to accommodate as many of Dan’s friends as possible, his family has said. Burial will follow the service at the family’s plot on French Road in Norway.

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