There are more than five petitions posted to the White House official platform of 'We the People' to label the Westboro Baptist Church a hate group as members of the Westboro Baptist Church continue to insist on picketing at Newtown, Connecticut where Adam Lanza opened fire killing 20 children and six adults.
As of Friday, petitions to either designate the church as a federally recognized hate group or to dismiss its tax emptions have reached over 475,000 signatories, thus making it the largest petition on the White House website ever.
The Southern Poverty Rights Center, a civil rights organization told NBC, the church is "arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America."
The Obama administration has not yet commented on the petition; however the petition has long ago surpassed the minimum requirement of 25,000 signatures in order to receive an official response.
The Westboro Church refused to comment on the issue.
The Kansas based church is notorious for its anti-gay picketing at military funerals, an act which has prompted even the president to take action against, although not directly since the church's demonstrations are still protected by the Constitutional right of "freedom of speech" and "freedom of association." Never the less in August 2012, President Barrack Obama signed the Honoring American Veterans Act, which prohibits any protests two hours before or after a veteran's funeral service and also requires protestors to remain at a distance of 300 feet from the service.
The first petition was posted on Dec. 14 by the hackavist group Anonymous.
See the entire petition here.
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