Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, 20, was a U.S. soldier who was killed in a non-combat vehicular accident in 2006 while serving in Iraq. During his funeral, the infamous Reverend Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church demonstrated by holding their prerequisite “God Hates Fags” signs as well as placards that read “You’re Going To Hell” and “God Hates You.” Phelps’s church stages protests at the funerals of soldiers such as Snyder, who wasn’t gay, because members believe God is punishing the U.S. for allowing homosexuality by killing soldiers.
Snyder’s father Albert sued Phelps for emotional distress and other complaints and was rewarded $11 million in damages. The ruling was later reversed by a federal appeals court that found “the signs and shouts did not directly refer to the lance corporal, and were therefore protected speech on issues of national debate,” according to CNN. But that wasn’t the end.
The Supreme Court will now be the deciding factor in Phelps and Snyder’s battle over constitutional rights. Oral arguments took place yesterday, and a final ruling will come in several months. Should the privacy of a grieving family (especially when it concerns the funeral of a soldier who died for our country) be placed above free speech and freedom of religious expression? What do you think?
– J.Harvey
To watch CNN’s report, follow the JUMP:
I wanna puke, but have to side with Phelps.
If the 1st goes, LGBT people won’t be far behind.
I agree I wanna puke, but the is seems the way Phelps supports himself is with these lawsuits he files against the people who try and stop him.
Maybe the best way to stop him, is to cut off his revenue stream. Which would mean letting him say whatever, where ever and just ignoring him.
There is a real double standard going on here. No one cared when he protested at funerals of gay people. Now that he does it a funerals for soldiers people care.
In Canada, this is “HATE SPEECH” and it only incites violence against minority groups. This is legislation designed to keep bigots out of Canada, and hopefully one day the USA.
You ever think the people who picket look back in their later years and say, “my god, how much hate we keept going…”
Personally I agree with John
and I think we should just ignore the hate and put out even more gay into the world.
If right is right, and wrong is wrong. Anything not quite right nor completely wrong falling somewhere in between. If you reduce all of this down to the lowest common denominator, it’s boils down to whether there is a God or not. If there is a God, then the Phelps are most likely in the right; and they won’t just stop with the FAGS. If the truth is neutral, then it doesn’t matter whether there is a god or not; we all problably have a long way to go before anywhere near truly virtuous; with the difference between who’s most right and who’s most wrong pretty much zippo.
“A world without a God, to me, is less absurd then one with a God existing in all his perfection who creates an imperfect man in order for him to just run the risk of hell.”
“A truly virtuous man would come to the aid of a complete stranger equally as he would a close friend. Then again, a truly virtuous man would have no friends.”
“Doing the right thing for the wrong reason has no moral worth.”
Jesus Fucking Christ! I sure hope the Phelps are wrong. Even my fellow Fags wouldn’t object to them protesting at my funeral.
There was a great line in the Rob Riener film ” The American President.”
I hope I paraphrase this well.
You can vehemently hate and disagree what another American says in a public forumn however you have to love America because it allows our citizens to speak openly without fear of recourse.
I do feel so bad for the families this nut case chooses and his message.
America is not easy!!!!!!
I have no problem with being corrected on the quote if somone can recount it better than I can.
I’m sorry, I feel nothing but pain and hatred toward Phelps and his ilk. But that is the true test of freedom of speech – it can’t only serve those that protect the good, it must also protect hate speech – and it’s up to us to quiet the likes of Phelps through other means – but if he’s not allowed to speak, then none of us has that right.
i personally think that ur rights ends where someone else’s begin… u can’t use ur free to speech right to mortify a grieving family for something it’s not even directly a matter of relevance for them….rafa
Gay, straight, republican, democrat, black white, top, bottom, this is a HUMAN issue. I can’t believe anyone is falling for hiding behind the first amendment. I wonder what would happen if people protested at this church or the funerals of their dead? Would they complain?
In the past, the courts have defended the right to issue even outrageous speech.
It seems pretty clear to me that the protestors did not invade the plaintiff’s privacy and complied with all the demonstration requirements issued to them by law enforcement.
Moreover, part of the civil complaint is based on things the plaintiff heard rebroadcasted or saw on web pages days after the incident.
While the defendants were plainly behaving in conspicuously and egregriously bad taste, their behavior is Constitutionally protected. This will be a pretty simple matter for SCOTUS. I do not expect a split vote.
I think people ahould watch the musical called “The Big Gay Musical”. Tho it is about gays, but it talked about what gay people go through and that they shouldn’t be hated for it. I think it’s a very deep movie, and will help the gays and straights combined.
I hate this particular speech, but support the constitution. I also supported the Klan’s right to march in Skokie. I think the best we can do about Phelps is ignore him – but we don’t do that well at all.
We are talking about freedom of speech over the dead body of a soldier. Remember…..this was a preemptive war that turned up nothing. There is no fine line for rights between people. The only rights one has are the ones he’s given ; others having the choice to respect them or not; and varies from place to place and spins on a dime over time.
I think these people are ignorant and stupid. However, free speech is a right that should be protected, no matter how vile the speech.
If the media would ignore him and his family, he’d soon go away.
I agree with Rafa. I believe everyone has a right to freedom of speech, even Phelps, but there is a time and a place to say your piece and funeral is not the place. Regardless of whether the guy was a soldier or if he was gay or straight, it doesn’t matter. He died, both he and his family deserve some respect during his funeral. I may not like what they have to say, but I do believe they have the right to say it, but having said that I think they went about it the wrong way.
@MikeK: This is a legal matter. It’s not about manners, emotions, or decorum; it’s about law. The principle is far, far more important than the circumstances.
Had the Phelps’s gotten too close to the funeral ceremony, it may have been possible to win a complaint based on the right to privacy. There was no basis for assault. The demonstration took place a specified distance from the ceremony (I think I remember hearing that the plaintiff was unable to see it). The complaint itself is partly based on media images that the plaintiff encountered days later.
What is the law that was broken? We all sympthathize with the bereaved and condemn the civil indecency of the Westboro group.
But it seems pretty clear to me that their right to assemble and protest as well as the media’s right to print and broadcast is Constitutionally protected.
I cannot beloieve that this is allowed to happen. In Australia we have no bill of rights, nor does our constitution contain any extensive entrenched list of rights. Personal liberties hear are protected by statute and custom, and it works.
This sort of demonstration is disgusting, and could simply never occur here. It would be taken a crime inciting hate and these people could be imprisoned. In any case it would just never happen here.
The only people who will be going to hell will be the people from that church . They say God hates fags ….no no no God does not hate .If He did then He would be contradicting Himself for God is love .John 3:16. These church people are so out of line they are a joke and so not right in what they are saying .The media need to just ignore then and not give them any publicity.
Allan, the only problem with the system you describe is that there are no adminsitrative guarantees of liberty.
Part of the role of the Bill of Rights is to assure that even unpopular minorities (like, oh, just say, for example … the gay community) are protected from a tyranny of the majority.
It is because of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution (esp. Amendment XIV) that marriage equality has even a shred of hope of one day being realized.
We need to respect and protect our Constitutionally guaranteed rights.
scott b you are smart! What is your MH name? ex scientia vera
lepenseur is mine
Phelps is wonderful to have around,
as secret_identy said “Regardless of whether the guy was a soldier or if he was gay or straight, it doesn’t matter. He died, both he and his family deserve some respect during his funeral. I may not like what they have to say, but I do believe they have the right to say it, but having said that I think they went about it the wrong way.”
It would now need a gay activist to announce ” Father forgive him(Phelps) since he knows not what he does” followed by secret_identity’s statement.
People who are radical like Phelps and distance the mainstream are only a asset to logical gay activisits, and the gay activist would come out looking more intelligent/rational etc.
In fact for every protest these people organize, a couple of gay activists should print out signs saying “father forgive them, they know not what they do”
That line from the American President is paraphrasing Evelyn Hall, writing of Voltaire – “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
He had another good one, relevant to the situation: “I always made one prayer to God, a very short one. Here it is: ‘O Lord, make our enemies quite ridiculous!’ God granted it.”
While it may seem like a cut-and-dried case regarding the First Amendment, I can only hope that some evidence exists to support a finding against Phelps and his gang. I’ll happily defend their right to say whatever they please, and the right of others to seek remedy for the injury their behavior causes. It’s only a matter of time before he or one of his true believers crosses the line – extremists are reliable in that respect – and then the weight of the Constitution will stand against them.
Insofar as this man’s message is one of hate, intended to cultivate anger and cruelty in others, he is himself perpetrating a hate crime, whether or not it is reasoned as such in the eyes of the law. I am certain that none among his number are capable of drawing a parallel between his words and those of your standard-issue fatwa against our nation, but there is no material difference. “God hates _______; you must hate it as well.”
if these hillbillies had any respect and love for the US, they would have let the family grieve privately and let this hard day be less of a nightmare for the families, there is a time and place to voice your opinions (racist or not), i dont think a funeral of a soldier is that. 1st shmirst!!
While freedom of speech is an important right to have, I think only in cases where it is appropriate…doing it at someone’s funeral is not only disrespectful, tacky and inhumane, but it’s just plain wrong. Surely there should be laws about what is appropriate and not appropriate to do in such a case? This man has died trying to honour his country and these religious freaks are basically spitting at him for doing so.
Where is Dexter when you need him?
Sorry for the intromission…. Maybe this is because im not an us citizen… but its inconceivable to me that your law protects someone how is doing what i truly believe its immoral, and a crime… u say ur bill of rights protect u and gave u the liberty of say what u want to say when u want to say it… whit do all respect maybe that’s the reason why people like phelps do so freely what he does… as all of u had seen for most of the not American people who have make an opinion here… for most of us its almost unbelievable that something like that could happened… there’s no bill of rights in my country… We have the right to speak but not to the right to hurt someone else whit the things we say and I’m sure that whatever someone said to Voltaire it wasn’t at his son’s funeral….
Rafael…. Madrid…. Spain….
You must remember that Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church are on PUBLIC land, at a PUBLIC funeral. Although these protests are DISRESPECTFUL and DISPICABLE, they are legal.
WE as a community of thinking humans; need to be participants against the Rev. Phelps, and present anti-protests where he and his “church” are protesting. Using the good book against the reverend would cause him greater harm. (Matthew 5:43-47 ) ”Love your Enemies” (Matthew 7:12) “Do unto others, as you’d have them do unto you” (Mark 10:42-45) “Whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.” (John 3:16-17) “God Loves EVERYONE”
God Bless our Fallen Soldiers and their Families
God Bless our active soldiers and protect them from harm
God Bless the GLBT community
This is a distasteful protest to be sure. I lost my son in Iraq and I would have been very unhappy to have these bigots outside his memorial service. But I would have added to my eulogy for him, that he died so that even those who preach hate in the name of Jesus can do so. When we fail to allow even those we despise to have a voice, then we become the enemy. We are no better than those extremist Muslims who took my son’s life. I am a fundamentalist Christian, gay, and a respecter of Muslims. It is an odd combination, but more than any of that, I’m an American. Only in THIS country can we be free to voice our beliefs. My son died to ensure that ALL could have that right at the hands of extremist that would deny those rights to any one who does not think like they do. I don’t like their message and I think they are hypocrites, misguided, and bigoted, but they have the right in America to their opinion. I think legislation that prohibits protests within 5oo yards of a funeral would undoubtedly solve the problem. Curbing freedom of speech is not the answer.
Freedom of speech is meant to protect our right to speak out against our government, not each other.
This crap makes me sick and I’m about ready to write this wannabe preacher. Not to sound really hateful but people like him deserve to be thrown on an island in the middle of no where and left to rot with everyone that believes the BS he speaks. This is nothing short of extreme hatred and it needs to be stopped. Funny how he claims to be doing things in the name of God and yet he does exactly what the bible tells him NOT to do…
I want to live in not only a free society, but also a civilized one. Civilized people do not protest at the funerals of parents who are burying their dead children. It is not about poor manners or bad taste – altho this certainly qualifies. It is about basic human decency. There are several limits on our free speech already in place (try yelling “Fire!” in a movie theatre), and this situation may well become a new one. Just because this group may (hopefully) be barred from protesting at funerals, does not mean they still can’t march in an Independence Day parade in oh, say, Texas or demonstrate at West Point’s annual graduation ceremony in front of a few hundred newly-minted officers – two things that I would enjoy seeing immensely.
@Josh: There are laws that protect the privacy of citizens. The Westboro group has family members that are attorneys, and so you will notice that none of their protest materials or media refer to anyone by name. Right to privacy complaints, such as slander or libel, therefore have no basis.
Furthermore, the protest took place at the place and distance that was prescribed by the local law enforcement officials. I have heard it reported that the plaintiff was not able to even see the protesters during the ceremony. Moreover, the complaint is partly based on things the plaintiff saw and heard days after the funeral in webpages and newspapers, which can raise a question about the liability of the press and what they are free to report.
TL;DR: There are laws to protect individual rights to privacy and freedom from harm. The Westboro group knows how to agitate and attract media attention without breaking these laws.
@Rafa: The principle is more important than the circumstances, and needs to be preserved. The purpose of having guaranteed freedoms is to protect unpopular minorities from a tyranny of majority rule. Spain is far more homogeneous than America.
Ric, I’m really and truly sorry to hear about your son. I have nothing but respect for the military servicemen and servicewomen who die in the line of duty. I’m truly graetful.
That said, I will now exercise my constitutional right to call Fred Phelps and his followers disgusting piles of shit. I guess we’ll have to counter-protest and wait for them all to die. May THEY rot and burn in hell.
*grateful
Go Scott B! You rock! As much as I can’t stand Phelps and his ilk, it is their right.
It’s already been established that there are limits to free speech. You can’t yell FIRE! in a crowded theatre, for example. Ruling against Phelps would simply be an extension of this. And if you think LGBT rights are going to be harmed by this, remember that just a few short years ago the court ruled in our favor in Lawrence v. Texas.
its funny , when i went to the US i say the church where those signs were created …..
it was black like their hearts
it was empty like their souls
and it had horns just like their heads
…if their going to “heaven” then i will gladly go to hell, get my tan on and admire all the hot gays in the world that are stuck there with me
mmmhmmmmmm lots and lots of gay sex unprotected , not worrying about disease or hiv ….thats my kind of hell
We really don’t have freedom of speech in this country and those bastards should be held liable for their actions. We can be jailed just for mentioning the word bomb at an airport or making a false statement about our neighbors (slander).
it is tricky and I might be swayed by my personal feelings here, but I believe that the first amendment protects you from the government. The government hasn’t infringed on the westboro’s rights. Freedom of Speech doesn’t protect you from being sued by someone else.
One more comment. If you really think we have freedom of speech in this country, stand on any street corner in your city with a big ass sign that reads ALL POLICEMEN ARE PIGS and see what happens to your ass. 🙂
Apologies in advance if this turns out to be a long post.
@All from countries other than the US: It’s nice to hear how things would be if this was your country, but in fact, it’s not, and the question raised was how U.S. law (the First Amendment to our Constitution) should view these protests. Saying “That just wouldn’t happen here” is pointless.
@TFB and @AXG: The “shouting fire in a crowded theater” exception is a narrowly tailored one, because of the imminent danger presented to others present. There is no such imminent danger at a protest of this sort; people were well aware of the circumstances before approaching the area.
@AXG in particular: I think most of us want to live in both a free and a civilized society. The question, of course, is what happens when the two conflict; one (freedom) is expressly protected in the Constitution, whereas the other (civilized behavior) is not.
For those who called this a hate crime: Please understand that a “hate crime” is something that is ALREADY a crime, where the offense is magnified because of the particular nature of the offense. For instance, it’s a crime to commit arson; in a jurisdiction with a hate crime law, if someone committed arson by burning down the house of a black person after painting “Go away Niggers” on their lawn, that would make it a hate crime.
Simply expressing hatred of something or someone is not a hate crime – it’s not illegal to hate. Hate crimes laws enhance the penalty for crimes motivated by hate, on the premise that such crimes are more often motivated at intimidation of an entire class of people, not just the particular victims of the specific crime in question.
At the bottom of this case is the fact that what Phelps and his inbred family (the entire “church” consists of his relatives) are doing is political speech. They are protesting the policies of a government they believe is wrong for decriminalizing gay sex, for allowing gay marriage and/or civil unions in some states, for allowing gay adoptions, and so forth. The point they are making (ill-informed though we may consider it) is that these soldiers are dying precisely because of those policies – that God so hates what our country is doing that he is allowing our soldiers to be killed for defending us.
How that couldn’t be considered protected political speech is beyond me. Of course it’s protected. As wiser men than me have pointed out before, popular speech doesn’t NEED the First Amendment; the government doesn’t try to shut down the speakers that everyone agrees with. It’s EXACTLY this kind of speech that the First Amendment was designed to protect.
@Mitch: On the “bomb” front, while you can be detained for mentioning that word at an airport, you can’t be arrested for it. I don’t deny that airport security is paranoid and overreacts to that sort of thing, but once it’s established that you didn’t actually threaten to bomb something, or claim to have a bomb, they send you on your way (with a stern lecture, probably). As for slander, there is no federal crime of that nature, although a handful of states have criminal statutes on defamation. Normally, that sort of thing is handled by civil lawsuits, not criminal charges.
As for your example about the sign – I guarantee you that if you were arrested for holding up such a sign, the likelihood is that a prosecutor would dismiss the charges before you even got booked. In the unlikely event it proceeded further, any halfway alert attorney would not only have the charges dismissed but would probably be able to win civil rights damages against the police.
@chii – you are correct that the First Amendment protects against government action. However, it comes into play, in this case, because the father is suing and thus availing himself of the court system, which is also the government; and judgments won in court are legally enforceable. As such, even if it’s clear and provable that Westboro’s conduct inflicted emotional distress on the family – the crux of their claim, if the conduct was protected by the First Amendment against government action, you can’t use a civil suit to punish Westboro for exercising its rights.
Had they actually infringed on a specific right of the plaintiff – for example, if they had trespassed on his property, or blocked his access to his home, or something – then the First Amendment would not apply as far as that infringement, and they could be arrested for trespassing or whatever. But there is no (at least, as yet) recognized legal right to a funeral where no protests can be seen even at a distance.
Our first ammendright rights are protected by everything, except hate speech. You are not allowed protection if your speech is hateful, which I think Phelps violated wholeheartedly. To be clear Hate Speech is NOT protected under the 1st ammendment.
@Kevin M. My point is that this may very well be one of those “narrowly tailored” exceptions to the free exercise of speech where a limitation is deemed to serve a greater good. Rather than prevention from imminent danger, I see the “greater good” here as the promotion of public discourse thru agreed upon rules of engagement. Some of these rules are already in place for work strikes and other protests (e.g., abortion clinics). Also, let’s change my original statement to “Civilized people do not keep slaves.” We decided to amend our Constitution to restrict this freedom in favor of civility. Obviously, this is a nuanced issue, which is why it’s being considered by the Supreme Court.
Who was it who said “kill them all and god work it out”?
Bigots who hid behind the bible are probably the most despicable people walking the face of the Earth today. And there is always some jackass who will stick a microphone in their face for a sound bite. STOP IT!! Just like a mangy old stray cat, if you don’t pay it any attention it will eventually go away. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
@Andy: I think we missed an obvious bible reference for the signs: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone” (excerpt from John 8:7)
I would be intrigued to see how a protest outside the Westboro church went… I think you’d have to be careful to cross the t’s and dot the i’s legally though.
while I believe that freedom of speech should end where hate speech starts, I will exercise my freedom of speech and say that I find the current wars we r involved in, and the deaths on both sides, even more offensive than these signs…..
they have the right to protest, and to do so in an organized fashion…. we have the right to protest too, but we do nothing….
I believe that the way to counter their actions would be for us to counter the war, or at least be as passionate and active about something as they (the right wingers) seem to be….
Energetically all of Westboro’s actions will come back to them. I feel nothing for them and can’t waste a second of my time giving them any energy at all. It’s very sad that they choose to focus so much on hate and make such a spectacle of themselves…and try and cloak it under religious freedom. We need freedom from their religion.
I would have to agree with Mike K. What would happen if military personal and gays protested at the funerals when one of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church died? Would they try to pursue litigation against the protesters? I do not see the whole point of the protesting in such ways as the WBC does. There are tons of different religions, and yes there is often conflict and such. However, I think Phelps and the members of the WBC go above and beyond to make their presence known. Also protesting at a funeral of a grieving family and saying the reason your son/daughter died is because there is gays in the military; that idea is ridiculous. They need to stop blaming events like this and others on gay people, and treating gay people like they are “sub-human” species.
YES, religious people should never be allowed to speak. Only scientists and atheists have any intelligence and worth for this planet. kill all the god believers
to all god believers and religious arsewipes, you know your “mary” cheated on her husband with so many men she didnt know who was the father so she made up a load of shit about virgin births, your “jesus” fucked a prostitute regularly, and his cousin “john the baptist” preferred “the company of men”
I live very close to the Snyder’s, so I hear about the case quite often; I was also in Westminster the day of the protest. Unfortunately that was about the 5th time I have encountered the Phelps.
What the case ultimately comes down to is, does Phelps’ right to free speech outweigh the Snyders’ right to peaceful assembly and freedom of religious expression? An incredibly hard question with serious ramifications no matter what the decision.
Personally I believe that a funeral is a private event; whereas the wake/viewing is a public one. So I believe the Phelps should be legally stopped from protesting at funerals.
Organizied Religion the root of all Evil in the world.
Like to see them show up at a funeral of one of my friends, I can assure you they would never go to another.
Fuckin Assholes
As much as I hate bigoted shit stains, it is important to remember that government has no right to restrict our freedom of expression. Perhaps they should have been required to stay a certain number of yards away from the private gathering.
Free speech is one thing. However there should be some line drawn. If they want to spew their hate, that’s there choice, but it should be against the law to do it at a funeral. I mean, the people at a funeral are already going through enough as it is. Also the whole meesage that the Phelps are putting out is even more stupid. That the soldiers are dead because God killed them as punishment for America supporting Gay rights? WTF? That makes no sense what so ever. There are many religious groups who don’t agree with Homosexuality, yet they don’t go this far or spew this kind of hate. Also to a, do you know how stupid you sound right now? You sound just as stupid as the Phelps do. All people who believe in God should die? Really? There should be a very special Condo in the afterlife where you and the Phelps live nextdoor to each other. Religion is not the driving force behind this. It’s the stupidity of the Phelps. Religion has brought as good things within the History of the world. The men and Women who founded this country believed in God. The Statue of David is based on a biblical character, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is about God creating Man, there is the beauty of Art in the Last Supper. Religion is not really the bad guy in this. It’s those who twist it in their own twisted minds. I don’t agree with all that the Bible says, but it does have many good lessons within it. You just have to have enough brains to take the good with the bad and the wisdom to know the difference.
You are more bigoted than any religious person I personally know, “a”. But I’m sure you really don’t feel that way. You just wanted attention.
The Phelps clan is made to stay in a certain area. Freedom of Speech is there for a reason. If they are not allowed to protest, then the gays should not be allowed to picket events either. And I’ve seen that happen with my own eyes.
ToddM, you’re right on them having a right to picket. I do still think it shouldn’t be allowed at a funeral. Funerals should be held under some kind of law protection. It’s a painful and private moment for people. There should be protection for that.
I really feel that for being “God fearing” citizens, they should really reflect on what they preach. Because, it’s just plain wrong and I don’t think their god would like them disrupting a family that just lost someone they loved doing something so selfless as serving in the military so that they could feel safe from people that like to do harm to others just because.
I agree with you LilLatinGuy. And I agree, to an extent, with you, James. I think it is sad that the family members are not allowed to mourn in private. But if we start taking rights away, it won’t stop where it should. You know the ones in Washington love power. They would only get a little taste and then we’d be screwed. So I say leave it as it is.
ToddM, like I said. They should still have a right, but maybe make it where they can’t picket on in an area such as a Cemetary. It is a sacred place and should have some level of protection. I mean you can’t let certain people just run amuck because the Government might go to far. There can be certain limits. Making a Cemetary a protected place is ok in my opinion. It will protect the families to an extent and let them morn in peace.
I would agree with that. Absolutely. To my knowledge, I guess I didn’t know they were allowed to be that close. I thought they were kept at a distance.
They were kept at a distance, but they were inside the Cemetary, but at a certain amount of feet away. That is where it’s wrong. They should not be allowed to set foot on that ground to do something so hateful.
With freedom comes responsibility which so few people understand anymore. Likewise, the exercising of one’s freedoms should never infringe upon someone else. It takes self control, self censoring and the ability to put other’s rights about your right, otherwise you’re wrong.
I am a Christian and gay – I find Ray Phelps offensive in a most extreme manner, however, I find him similar to organizations like Act Up – they are similarly offensive. Using your freedoms to disrupt someone else’s assembling, no matter the reason or cause infringes on other’s rights. It is acts like this, on both sides of the aisle, that allows the government to chip away at your civil liberties until they exist no more.
Again, well said, Carter. Wish I had half of your brains!
Freedom of Speech belongs in the Town Square; not the Cemetery.
I agree 100% David.