Open Spaces

I Respectfully Disagree

Red states and blue states are drifting further apart, ideologically. Rural youth are migrating faster and faster to urban centers. Small town newspapers and radio stations are going silent. Families can't even carry on a respectful conversation at the 4th of July potluck! Never has it been more important for the media to step forward and moderate conversations across divides.

Former Anti-LGBTQ Activist Finds "Grace And Kindness" At Matthew Shepard Symposium

Wyoming Public Radio | By Melodie Edwards

Published April 20, 2018 at 4:32 PM MDT

From the age of five, Megan Phelps-Roper waved placards like this one on picket lines all over the country.

At the Matthew Shepard Symposiumhosted last week at the University of Wyoming, protesters gathered outside with signs denouncing the LGBTQ community. The group was from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, and nearly 20 years ago, they also picketed Matthew Shepard’s funeral.

But inside the symposium, a former Westboro Church member was preparing to speak. Megan Phelps-Roper was there to explain that when she started engaging in civil dialogue over Twitter, her entire worldview changed.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Melodie Edwards sat down Phelps-Roper as part of her series, “I Respectfully Disagree.”

An earlier version of this story claimed that Phelps-Roper's husband was Jewish. He is not.