In my opinion, the members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) are among the most repugnant, vile, despicable – hold on, I need to consult my Thesaurus – filthy, foul, nasty, nauseating, creepy, offensive, repellent, revolting, loathsome, rotten, obnoxious, wretched, sickening low-life creatures on the face of this planet. But then again, I’m sugar-coating it.
The Westboro Baptist Church and its 75 members are united in a singular mission: Hating gays. Of course, “hate” is a strong word and church members will surely dispute my assertion. But when your church runs a website titled “GodHatesFags.com” (now available in Spanish!), it seems a reasonable assumption that the church members do, too.
Alas, in America hating fags hasn’t gotten too many people riled up. For example, do you remember the story of Matthew Shepard, the student who was savagely beaten to death in Wyoming in 1998 because he was gay? Well, the fine folks of the WBC picketed Matthew’s funeral with signs saying the young man was going to Hell for being gay.
Was there mass public outrage over this outrageous behavior? Nope. Did Congress pass any laws banning picketing at the funerals of slain gay students? Nope. Did anyone sue WBC for invading the Shepard family’s privacy or causing them emotional distress? Not that I recall. No, it wasn’t until the WBC wingnuts started showing up at military funerals waving “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” signs that the public’s blood started to boil.
According to the Associated Press, the WBC protestors believe God is killing American soldiers because the United States “is too tolerant of homosexuality.” In response, notes the AP, “a number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries.” And just last week, a court handed down an $11 million verdict against WBC for invasion of privacy and causing emotional distress at the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq.
The problem is that what these callous WBC cretins were doing, as tastelessly and as insensitively as humanly possible, was exercising their right of free speech. And just as a reminder, here’s exactly what the First Amendment says: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…or the right of the people peaceably to assemble…”
It’s painfully clear. The Constitution prohibits Congress - and thanks to the 14th Amendment, the states – from passing laws which prohibit the free exercise of speech, even if the speech is despicable and the protestors peaceably assemble to exercise their rights at a funeral. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if this verdict is overturned on appeal, and it should bother everyone who values our freedoms if it’s not.
My heart aches for the father of that slain soldier who sued the Westboro Baptist Church worms, and in a lot of ways, I’m glad he won. But rather than undermine an essential constitutional principle, might I suggest a better alternative? Let’s pass a law that says if a friend or relative of a slain American soldier, personally or by proxy, kicks the living (expletive) out of a member of the Westboro Baptist Church who is protesting at said soldier’s funeral, the infraction will be considered a simple misdemeanor subject to a maximum fine of one dollar.
Something tells me that would put a stop to all this pronto.
Posted on November 4th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
I agree with your opinion of the Westboro Baptist Church. However, the solution to make assaulting a funeral demonstrator punishable as a misdemeanor with a $1 fine would probably be inviting more trouble.
Hypothetical: If a family member or friend of the deceased soldier attacked a demonstrator and got carried away and killed the demonstrator, would the $1 misdemeanor fine still be in effect for the homicide?
Another hypothetical: If a demonstrator defended himself against an attack by a deceased soldier’s family member or friend, and he killed the family member or friend in self-defense, what then?
Something tells me that your solution would not “put a stop to all this pronto.” Promoting a violent solution to this problem could just promote more violence, which I’m not necessarily averse to. It’s just that you should lay out some of the possible consequences of your solution when you propose it.
Maybe we can find out where the next WBC protest will be held, send Joe Enge there, have him plow his car into the crowd, then he can blow a BAC of .25, go to court, pull out his dentures for the judge and say that he only had two beers while he was at the brothel, then he can claim that he drove his car into the crowd in retaliation because the WBC guys were the ones who assaulted him twice recently in the men’s room at the Nugget.
Chuck, I love your stuff but brush up on your constitutional law. Its called “Time, Place and Manner” restrictions on free speech and it happens all the time, if government has a legitimate interest in the regulation of how somebody exercizes their right to free speech. A public noise ordinance is no different. Another example is making the NOW gang protest Augusta National at the The Master’s awhile back have their protest a mile and a 1/2 offsite instead of at the club gates. More power to the grieving and father and it won’t abridge the constitution when his ruling is upheld.
….if I recall correctly, often times (always), the Secret Service keeps demonstrators one-quarter mile away from President Bush.
Please, continue on with your freedom of speech argument using the above as an example of unacceptable behavior by the Government.
[…] I recently wrote a column reluctantly defending the right of the religious nutjobs of the gay-hating Westboro “Baptist” “Church” to stage protests at military funerals. These are the same cretins who maintain the GodHatesFags.com website. […]