[Peace-discuss] some protests we can't support

[Ricky Baldwin]

Hey folks-

I'm posting this mainly because I talked to a few
folks recently who hadn't heard about it.  So now you
know.  But in the spirit of respecting an old request
that we not simply post articles without comment, but
add something about their relevance:

Here's a good example of why we can't support everyone
who criticizes the war (duh!).  Of course these
lunatics appear to be focussed on attacking the
soldiers themselves, regardless of who they are and
what they do -- which we also don't support anyway --
but it seems they generalize their point (such as it
is) to the whole war effort by some twisted logic. 
The war is in defense of gay people, or some such
nonsense.

I suppose AWARE folks may differ on whether it's okay
to require these maniacs to back off 300 ft from the
church or whatever -- and I can certainly see a
slippery slope there -- but I think we can all agree
that what they are doing is disgusting and ludicrous. 
I'd argue they're practically insane, but I probably
won't get too much agreement on that one.

Anyway, here's one article on it, published before the
funeral, in case more folks hadn't heard...

-Ricky


Copyright 2005 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)

December 9, 2005 Friday
THIRD EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1016 words

HEADLINE: Anti-gay protesters target small-town
soldier's funeral

BYLINE: By Adam Jadhav ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

BODY:


The fire-breathing, staunchly anti-gay Rev. Fred
Phelps Sr. will make a few more enemies this weekend.
Truth be told, he's not really concerned.

The list of people who hate the preacher from Topeka,
Kan., is already long, as is the list of those whom he
condemns.

Phelps has lambasted journalists, lawyers, nearly all
churches, the general public and even Presidents
George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Now officials in
Illinois and Missouri have him in their sights with
proposals to ban Phelps' favorite tactic: vitriolic
anti-gay protests at military funerals.

The 76-year-old Phelps, an ordained minister and
father of 13, has headed the Westboro Baptist Church
in Topeka since 1955 but is almost universally written
off by mainstream religious organizations.

Westboro Baptist Church members have picketed the
funerals of homosexuals for nearly 15 years. In search
of more publicity, they've taken their protests in
recent months to nearly 70 military services.

Just like the one this Saturday, when about a dozen
church members will head to the small Illinois town of
Virden, 80 miles northeast of St. Louis, for the
memorial service for Staff Sgt. Gary Harper, a local
boy, high school football player and Army medic killed
in October in Iraq.

At the funerals, Phelps' followers carry signs bearing
the church's hallmark slogans: "God Hates Fags," "AIDS
Cures Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" among
others.

Phelps and his followers have no qualms using words
that many find offensive. The church adheres to a
strict, literal interpretation of the Bible and relies
on verses that paint a picture of an angry God who
condemns homosexuals to hell.

Many question his logic, but Phelps protests
homosexuality by proclaiming the deaths of soldiers as
holy retribution against "a fag army -- don't ask,
don't tell -- for a fag-loving agenda of a fag-loving
nation," Phelps said in an interview Wednesday.

Because of that kind of language, Virden police plan a
show of force at the memorial Saturday, backed up by
Illinois State Police and the Macoupin County
Sheriff's Department. They hope their presence will
stave off potential violence.

Other officials also want to take action. On Dec. 1,
Missouri Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields, R-St.
Joseph, proposed legislation that would ban protesting
"in front of or about any church, cemetery or funeral
establishments" from one hour before to one hour after
a funeral.

And this week, Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn proposed
prohibiting such picketing from within 300 feet a
half-hour before to a half-hour after any funeral.

"Those last moments a family has with their son, those
ought to be opportunities that aren't interfered with,
that aren't harassed, that aren't destroyed and
disrupted by a group that is seeking to do exactly
that, to be cruel," said Quinn, who attends the
funerals of most Illinois soldiers.

Similar laws have been proposed at the city, county
and state level around the nation. Indiana and
Oklahoma are considering measures; Phelp's own state
of Kansas already has one.

Officials admit they have Phelps in mind, but they say
they're less interested in curtailing speech and more
concerned about people like Linda Morrison, the mother
of Gary Harper, who will face Phelps' followers
Saturday in Virden.

Morrison declined to comment beyond dismissing the
protests. "They can do what they want. I'm not going
to waste any time on Phelps," Morrison said. "It's
their right. It's what Gary died serving" -- referring
to the right to protest.

Court battle is likely

The proposed legislation is likely to set up a First
Amendment battle. Though courts have long upheld
limited rights of government to restrict the time,
place and manner of speech, barring protest in a
public place such as a sidewalk is thorny. And Phelps
has already promised a court challenge.

A controlling U.S. Supreme Court case, Frisby v.
Schultz, in 1988 upheld an ordinance in a Milwaukee
suburb that prohibited picketing outside an individual
residence because it invaded the privacy of a home.
But the court hinted that restrictions beyond that are
less likely to be constitutional.

Phelps' followers have routinely been attacked
verbally and have had eggs thrown at them at some
protests. And since August, members of the Patriot
Guard Riders, a national motorcycle group that
attempts to shield grieving families, have followed
Phelps to military funerals in a counterprotest.

With the contingent of motorcyclists, a color guard or
21-gun salute, military funerals can evolve into a
public display, Phelps argues. He said if a family
wished a private ceremony with little pomp and
circumstance, his group would stay away.

"They turn it into an epic to promote the
administration's side of the war. They'll have
flag-waving patriots, proclaiming him a hero," Phelps
said. "Our view of this situation is that God Almighty
blew these kids to smithereens and sent them to hell."

The spectacle nature of military funerals raises
another constitutional hurdle for restrictive
legislation, some feel.

"If you are going to allow activity that is public in
nature, then it becomes very, very difficult to limit
protest activity outside," said Charles Davis,
executive director of the University of Missouri's
Freedom of Information Coalition. "While my heart
grieves for people that are in that situation, I don't
think you should limit speech."

Ultimately, a court will probably rule on the matter.

"It's obviously hard to make a final determination,"
said Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil
Liberties Union in Chicago, which will track the
legislation. "But the point of having freedom of
speech is to protect the speech we find most
objectionable."

---

The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr.

Age: 76

Home: Topeka, Kan.

Education: Studied at Bob Jones University in
Greenville, S.C., and the Prairie Bible Institute in
Canada. Earned a law degree from Washburn University
in Topeka. Later disbarred.

Family: Married 53 years; father of 13 children.


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