'God Hates Fags': Gay man rings Westboro Baptist Church to ask how to get into heaven

Riyadh Khalaf rang the group after a member left an abusive message below one of his videos

Riyadh Khalaf responds to the call with Westboro Baptist member Shirley Phelps Roper (Riyadh Khalaf via Youtube)

A gay Irish man has called one of the leading figures from the Westboro Baptist Church to ask how he can get into heaven.

Riyadh Khalaf, a well-known YouTube personality, starts his video by explaining he is ringing up the anti-gay organisation after Shirley Phelps Roper, one of its members, left a homophobic comment below his latest video claiming he would never get into heaven.

“Ideally I’d go to heaven, I mean, that’s the plan,” Mr Khalaf tells the camera. “Now I’m thinking: what am I doing wrong? She knows, so I better give her a call.”

Unsurprisingly, the call was not exactly pleasant.

Mrs Phelps Roper, daughter of the deceased founder of the extreme US group, launched into a rant as soon as Mr Khalaf explains who he is and why he is calling.

“Yikes. You are heading straight to hell, God hates fags. God hates you,” she adds as Mr Khalaf attempt to interject into her seemingly endless stream of angry words.

She concludes, “Read the word and obey your God,” before hanging up.

“Well,” Mr Khalaf assesses, “She’s obviously in a bad mood today.”

Undeterred, the YouTube personality calls back and leaves a message inquiring if he gives up listening to Lady Gaga’s musics and lip-synching to Taylor Swift might guarantee him a pass through the pearly gates.

“If I chop off my quiff and get a buzz cut, can I get into heaven then? If I promise to have any gay sexual relations on a Sunday, can I get into heaven?”

The video, posted yesterday, has already been viewed almost 150,000 times with the majority of the comments below all expressing their admiration for Mr Khalaf’s humorous take on the situation.

In his original video, Mrs Phelps’ comments included 41 mentions of the word “fag” as she railed against the “fag enablers” who would end up in hell, according to her.

The Westboro Baptist Church, based in Kansas, has been widely rejected by all mainstream Baptist organisations in the US.

Over the years since the group first came to wider public attention – picketing the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq – there have been frequent calls to outlaw their actions as hate crimes.