I was an early skeptic of proposed legislation to make disruption of funerals a felony, arguing that because it proposed to treat protests at funerals differently than other types of protests, it amounted to unequal treatment under the law. But as the law is playing out, I'm beginning to see its value. We've just had our first funeral of a fallen Hoosier soldier under the new law (Sgt. Rickey Jones of Kokomo), and the loonies from the Westboro Baptist Church stayed away. They went instead to Flint, Mich., to picket at the funeral of Allan Morr, who was killed alongside Sgt. Jones. (Michigan doesn't have a law like Indiana's making disorderly conduct within 500 feet of a funeral a felony.) The First Amendment does not appear to be in tatters. Life goes on.
