Judy Shepard Isn't Commenting On Death Of Anti-Gay Pastor Fred Phelps

Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, isn't commenting on the passing of Fred Phelps.

Phelps founded the Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church in the 1950s with a message of “God hates fags.”

(Related: Anti-gay activist Fred Phelps dead at 84.)

Judy Shepard spent the better part of a decade lobbying for passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which is co-named after her son who was brutally murdered in 1998 by two men he met in a gay bar.

“Regarding the passing of Fred Phelps, Dennis [Shepard] and I know how solemn these moments are for anyone who loses a loved one,” she wrote on Facebook. “Out of respect for all people and our desire to erase hate, we've decided not to comment further.”