We typically avoid giving Fred Phelps' hatemongers any press but Lady Gaga was so classy about how she handled the religious sect's latest protest, we figured it was worth mentioning.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have protested Lady Gaga before, but when church members picketed outside her concert in St. Louis Saturday night,the pop star fired back.

Lady Gaga took to her website and to Twitter before the concert after learning of the planned protest. Before the show, members of the church stood outside the theater with signs reading, "God hates Lady Gaga.”

“At the risk of drawing attention to a hateful organisation, I would like to make my little monster fans aware of a protest being held outside the Monsterball in St.Louis tonight," Gaga wrote. "Although we have had protesters before, as well as fundamentalists at the show, this group of protesters are hate criminals and preach using lude and violent language and imagery that I wish I protect you all from."

Gaga wrote that members of the church are “violent and dangerous” and urged fans not to engage them in conversation. Following the concert, she tweeted: "Love and hate met in St. Louis. And love outnumbered the hate, in poetic thousands. Hate left. But love stayed. + Together, we sang."

Members of the church had planned to protest Gaga’s performance at the Fox Theater in St. Louis in January, but harsh weather kept them from turning out.

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