Fred Phelps as some of you might know is the leader of Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group that runs the God Hates Fags website and preaches that all the disasters and tragedies that strike America are caused by God and can only be avoided if the nation purges itself of homosexuals. Phelps and his congregation first got noticed by the world at large when they picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepherd (beaten to death for being gay) to tell everyone that Shepherd is burning in hell for his sins. They then went on to spend a few years picketing the funerals of HIV/AIDS victims to celebrate God striking down queers with the "gay plague," and in the last year or two he's made headlines across America for picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, where he preaches that America's casualities are God's punishment for the American government and people continuing to embrace gays rather than casting them out.
And even as we speak, the ACLU are preparing to aid Fred Phelps in attempting to overturn a recent Missouri law which makes it illegal to picket funerals in that state.
Don't know about you guys, but I'm rooting for Phelps on this one.
Source
Phelps' church, ACLU challenge Missouri protest ban
Associated PressKANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas church group that routinely protests at military funerals across the country filed a suit in federal court Friday, claiming the Missouri law banning such pickets infringed on the members' religious freedoms and right to free speech.
Missouri's law bans picketing and protests "in front of or about" any church, cemetery or funeral establishment from an hour before a funeral begins until an hour after it ends. A number of other state laws and a federal law, signed in May by President Bush, bar such protests within a certain distance from a cemetery or funeral.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Jefferson City. It will test lawmakers' ability to target the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church, constitutional scholars say.
"I told the nation as each state went after these laws that if the day came that they got in our way, that we would sue them," said Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, the lead plaintiff and a spokeswoman for the Topeka-based church. "At this hour, the wrath of God is pouring out on this country."
The church claims God is allowing soldiers, coal miners and others to be killed because the United States tolerates homosexuals. Westboro Baptist has outraged mourning communities across the U.S. by showing up at soldiers' funerals with signs that read "God Hates Fags."
In the lawsuit, the ACLU claims the wording of Missouri's ban, which restricts protests "about" any funeral establishment, seeks to limit the group's free speech based on the content of its message.
The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the ban unconstitutional and to issue an injunction to keep it from being enforced, which would allow the group to resume picketing.
The suit names as defendants Gov. Matt Blunt, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon and Mark Goodwin, a prosecuting attorney for Carroll County.
A Nixon spokesman said the state would mount a major legal defense.
"We're not going to acquiesce to anything that they're asking for in this lawsuit," said Scott Holste. "We will aggressively defend Missouri's law against this challenge."
Missouri lawmakers were spurred to action after the church protested in St. Joseph last August, at the funeral of Army Spc. Edward Myers. The law makes violation a misdemeanor, with fines and possible jail time that increase for repeat offenders.
Phelps-Rogers' attorney said that though he disagreed with Westboro's message, the group had a right to spread it.
"This law really was made to silence a particular group, and I'm able to see that that's dangerous," said Anthony Rothert, ACLU legal director in St. Louis. "It may be a group that I disagree with that the government is trying to silence today, but it could be a group that I agree with tomorrow."
First Amendment scholars said the Missouri challenge could give pause to state legislators writing similar bills.
"Government has no interest in restricting protests that aren't disruptive and are peaceful," said David Greene, executive director of the First Amendment Project in Oakland, Calif. "I would guess this question will be tested in a few different forms."
Phelps-Roper, who is also an attorney, said the church would fight other laws which members felt restricted their free speech rights, and hoped to resume protesting in Missouri soon.
While I disagree with everything Fred Phelps says, and I disagree with the concept of hijacking funerals to garner publicity for political causes, and I disagree with the concept of mocking the dead at their own funerals, I don't believe that the government should start placing restrictions on where people can and can't express their opinions. Because at the end of the day gagging unpopular political expressions (even if they're being gagged for the best of reasons) is harmful to a free society, and my right to go through life without being exposed to crap I find offensive is not as important as everyone's right to free speech.
People should have freedom of speach no matter how ugly it is assuming all views get equal opportunity to be aired. At a funeral however, that is questionable.
Any other place however is fair game. As long as the opposing views are not oppressed. All one has to do to thwart hate speech, is to turn the hateful speach on it's head. For instance. Phelps and his gang of demonic followers came to our friendly city of Pittsburgh to protest a funeral and then travel around the city afterwards to do some more picketing.
Tastefully waiting until after the funeral, I followed them through the city with a sign that said "Santorum Agenda" with an arrow pointing at their "God Hates Fags" sign. The Phelps cult packed up a few hours early, knowing it would help oust their boy in the senate.
Today... No more Santorum!
Your Welcome!
He may have a right to express his opinions, but I'm supportive of a family's right to mourn at the funeral with out some "church" yelling "He's in Hell" at them. Let him publically protest the war, America, or anything else he deems necessary, but don't infringe on the rights of the families to contend with their suffering without protesters.
~BLee
I understand we all should have a right to protest whatever freely, but what they are doing is completely indecent, as well as a great disturbance of peace. Besides, certain areas are private properties, where protesting isn't allowed anyhow. It's like someone going on your front lawn shouting "The landowners here are going to hell! They are an abomination!" for hours on end.
This all happened at the city campus of my university. There were student protestors on that campus, and they ended up getting arrested since they were on private, university property. I remember our professor was trying to get the students of our class sign a petition... no one signed. We all understood debating against it was completely foolish and naive.