ACLU sues city so that the Westboro Baptist Church can continue to yell 'God Hates Fags' at military funerals
ST. LOUIS – The American Civil Liberties Union sued Maplewood today on behalf of a controversial Kansas-based church that protests at the funerals of soldiers, alleging that the city's funeral protest ban is unconstitutional.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, is a first in eastern Missouri but part of a broader effort by the ACLU to go after state and local laws that have been passed in recent years targeting funeral protests, said Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri.
Missouri and Illinois are among the more than two dozen states and the federal government that have passed similar laws. Many, if not all, were prompted by the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church and founder Fred Phelps, who believe that America is being punished by the deaths of soldiers and others for its "tolerance" of homosexuality. Church members began protesting at the funerals of gays but then started protesting at soldiers' funerals and carrying signs such as "Thank God For Dead Soldiers."
The church has already won an initial victory against a Missouri law that banned funeral protests.
Phelps-Roper sued in federal court in 2006 to block enforcement of Missouri's law, passed earlier that year. Their bid for a temporary ban on enforcement of the law was initially turned down by a lower court judge, but the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis reversed that decision and the U.S. Supreme Court on June 29 declined to hear Missouri's appeal.
The trial of that suit is now scheduled for the summer of 2010, Rothert said.
"Maplewood's is worse than most of the ordinances and worse than the state statute," Rothert said, because the protest exclusion zone is wider and lasts longer. Maplewood also has a floating buffer zone around funeral activities, he said.
It's pretty clear, Rothert said, that laws like that one are creating "an exception to the First Amendment that's not been made before."
Maplewood Mayor James White declined comment on the suit. He referred a reporter's question to a lawyer who did not immediately return a message. Via: STLtoday
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, is a first in eastern Missouri but part of a broader effort by the ACLU to go after state and local laws that have been passed in recent years targeting funeral protests, said Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri.
Missouri and Illinois are among the more than two dozen states and the federal government that have passed similar laws. Many, if not all, were prompted by the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church and founder Fred Phelps, who believe that America is being punished by the deaths of soldiers and others for its "tolerance" of homosexuality. Church members began protesting at the funerals of gays but then started protesting at soldiers' funerals and carrying signs such as "Thank God For Dead Soldiers."
The church has already won an initial victory against a Missouri law that banned funeral protests.
Phelps-Roper sued in federal court in 2006 to block enforcement of Missouri's law, passed earlier that year. Their bid for a temporary ban on enforcement of the law was initially turned down by a lower court judge, but the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis reversed that decision and the U.S. Supreme Court on June 29 declined to hear Missouri's appeal.
The trial of that suit is now scheduled for the summer of 2010, Rothert said.
"Maplewood's is worse than most of the ordinances and worse than the state statute," Rothert said, because the protest exclusion zone is wider and lasts longer. Maplewood also has a floating buffer zone around funeral activities, he said.
It's pretty clear, Rothert said, that laws like that one are creating "an exception to the First Amendment that's not been made before."
Maplewood Mayor James White declined comment on the suit. He referred a reporter's question to a lawyer who did not immediately return a message. Via: STLtoday
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by SabreNation on -
I'm with everyone stating that the ACLU did the right thing here. It is well within the rights of the WBC to hold these gatherings and trying to silence them because we dislike their message would set a very dangerous precedent.
The best way to deal with them is counter-protest. One of my proudest moments as a citizen of the city of Buffalo was when these hate-mongers showed up here to protest some funerals being held for victims of Flight 3407 that went down in a Buffalo suburb back in February. So many counter-protesters showed up you could barely even see the WBC bigots. They wore angel wings to block out their signs and started their own chants to drown out the WBC hate speech. Eventually the bigots gave up and just left.
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Permalink Reply by Cat on -
Kudos to ACLU for preserving the constitutional rights of us all... even the evil and vile ones!
I agree with SabreNation regarding counter protesting. I've seen the bigots blocked out and chanted out, so as to make them impotent. My favorite was Michael Moore's Sodomy Express taking on the Phelps Clan
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Permalink Reply by Jordan Adorno on -
The UK won´t even let these people in their country. In certain parts of Europe it is illegal to say the Holocaust never occured etc. Should there be more protection against this hate speech? A minimum protocol, like someone said? I think you could argue that ....
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Permalink Reply by Misty: Baytheist Living! on -
Once you ban something based on it's message, you open the door to ban ANYTHING that isn't popular.
And guess what? Atheists ideas aren't exactly popular.
I say get them far back enough that they can't physically block the path of or touch ANYONE going in our out.
I loved the Michael Moore thing. I think someone should start a watchdog group that mobilizes every time the wackos head out. Counter protest until they just give up and slither home for good.
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