I am one for civil rights. I love them. I think that anyone should be able to marry anyone they wish. I believe that all people should have the law apply to them just like anyone else. I also believe that people should be able to speak their hearts and minds on a subject – as if working for The Lamron didn’t give that away. There are, however, limits to all rights.
There comes a point when personal expression can cross the line and hurt others. Unfortunately for the victims of the recent tornados, the families of fallen soldiers, the openly gay and countless other Americans, the hate speech and offensive protests of the Westboro Baptist Church have gone too far.
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is led by pastor and disbarred-attorney Fred Phelps. Phelps was permanently disbarred from practicing law in Kansas for slandering and publically humiliating a court reporter in 1979, and in 1989 he was forced to stop practicing law in federal courts after alleging false accusations against six federal judges. Nothing sells the impression of sanity like insulting not one, not two but six federal judges.
Phelps’ current congregation of 40 – mostly consisting of indoctrinated family members – spends its days traveling to funerals. No, not to mourn and grieve, but rather to hold large, colorful signs saying that the deceased died because God hates homosexuals. I’m not much of a theist, but isn’t the big man upstairs supposed to be all loving and supportive? And yet the WBC purposefully attends military funerals to praise improvised explosive devices and exclaim that it’s a great thing that those who sacrificed everything died. Pardon me for a moment of dry heaving.
So, how can the WBC get away with such blatant hate speech and bigotry? Unfortunately for us reasonable, undamaged people, the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that the Phelps protests qualified as free speech. Free speech? Really? It’s one thing to protect the speech of citizens but when it comes to people who are actively trying to incite violence, shouldn’t there be a special clause or exception?
In recent months, it has become increasingly popular for opposing groups to protest WBC. At the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, for example, over 100 convention-goers protested the WBC, complete with signs mocking the obvious insanity that WBC represents. Even legislators have taken appropriate steps; Illinois barred WBC from protesting at military funerals, Arizona passed a law that prohibits protesting within 300 feet of funerals and former President George W. Bush signed into law a bill that prohibits protesting military funerals within 300 feet.
How about a more serious response? Why should the law protect those who wish to degrade and cause pain? Shouldn’t there be proper justice? I propose a law that prohibits protests within half a mile of any funeral and declare protesting with hate speech a felony. No one should be forced to mourn the loss of a loved one while listening to the sickening chant of WBC.