The ACLU, once again marching in step with the American mainstream:
In Tennessee the Senate just passed a bill that requires a 500-foot buffer zone between a funeral, burial or funeral procession and its protesters. Those that come closer than 500 feet could be charged with a Class C misdemeanor, punishable up to six months in jail and a $500 fine. Other states as nearby as Kentucky and Missouri agree. Those states have already passed new laws limiting protests at funerals.
Of course the ACLU are claiming the bill is unconstitutional.
The group that is getting the ACLU's support is our old friend the Westboro Baptist Church, which has been in Fort Wayne and the antics of which persuaded the Indiana General Assembly to pass a measure giving funeral attendees a measure of peace.
I believe the First Amendment protects people's right to peacefully assemble. I find it odd that the ACLU are not protecting the right of those who wish to mourn the fallen to assemble without being harassed by lunatic cultists.
Zing.
Comments
Damn that ACLU, always sticking up for liberals like the Westboro Baptist Church and Rush Limbaugh.
(I know you haven't made the ACLU-liberal claim in this post, Leo, but it's a claim that gets made a lot.)
It is a shame what the Westboro Baptist Church does at funerals, and their views are quite wacky and way right-wing, but I still think that if the KKK can stand, white hoods and all, and profess hatred for minorities within the bounds of the law, then the WPC should still have the right to protest. Once we start infringing upon the free-speech rights granted under the First Amendment, we slide down a slippery slope.
In my own opinion, I think the funeral protests should be handled by the government in the same way as KKK rallies. Permission needs to be acquired by a governmental authoriy (which will most likely always deny such requests to protest at funerals). But protesting shouldn't be against the law, only in accordance with it.
"In my own opinion, I think the funeral protests should be handled by the government in the same way as KKK rallies. Permission needs to be acquired by a governmental authoriy (which will most likely always deny such requests to protest at funerals). But protesting shouldn't be against the law, only in accordance with it."
That's right, Nichole. And, you know, Leo's blog being here on the internets really gripes me, too. What about my right to surf the internets without being harassed? I think when Leo wants to blog, he should do what the KKK and the WBC are supposed to do: seek the permission of some governmental authority. Which one? Who cares, as long as it's governmental. The ACLU won't like that, but what do we care?
A bit off topic:
It's amazing that Phelps and his gang still get airplay. And inviting him to a gay-rights debate here in Fort Wayne? That was incredibly stupid. Why not invite the grand dragon of the KKK to a debate on civil rights?
Bringing in fringe elements of the society to discuss important issues doesn't help the discourse - it only helps to promote the ideologies of the fringe. And you can be sure that he will continue to come back as long as he gets the media to follow him.
The people of Kansas learned this a long time ago...
I have done a lot of research on WBC and I have to say that it is a university lesson in Clown Culture, Protesting at military funerals and elsewhere and harassing people with misguided and terminally obnoxious propogandas??, Proclaiming God's hatred and impending destruction of those not of the Westboro ideology??, It's quite wack I have to admit, It all goes nowhere except into the air and proves to be a serious waste of valuable time for this pathetic collective under Pastor Phelps' wing, These people should be subjected to intensive inpatient psychiatric help and be enrolled in closely supervised activity programs to ease all that time off their hands which enables them to embark on their picketing tours ("Love Crusades" as refered to by WBC), I will be in NYC on May 21 participating in the 2006 AIDS walk with a close friend who lost her Father to the disease and there will be, without a doubt, radical conservatives, commies and others of equally mentally ill proportions challenging from the sidelines, Will WBC be there?? One could only guess.