The protests were not always well attended

 The protests were not always well attended - this one in 1999 had only 15 people. But the signs attracted outsized attention.
In the end, their shock message was so well-known and their methods so loathed that they didn't even have to protest.
"At least half the time they would call up a place they were going to picket ahead of time," says Potok.
When news leaked that the Phelpses were going to be at Sandy Hook, for instance, it spurred international media attention - but the family never showed.
"They wouldn't bother," says Jones. "They already got what they wanted."
Though Phelps is dead, his church remains, with many more members to carry out his theology and carry his signs.
But the power of 'God Hates Fags' has become so strong that the signs - or even the protesters - are hardly necessary any more.