»
»

ACLU Protects Funeral Protesters

Hat tip: Conservative Thinking
If you haven’t heard about the Westboro Baptist Church Hate Cult, Dread Pundit Bluto can fill you in. In short, they believe that God is punishing America for our arrogance and our tolerance of gays. They feel that the best place to express their hate is picketing the funerals of veterans killed in the War on Terror with signs saying such things as “God Hates Fags”, and “Thank God For Dead Soldiers.” Of course this kind of disrespect is bound to anger quite a few folks. In reaction some states are creating laws to limit these protests with buffer zones. While most reasonable folks can see the common sense in this, the American Civil Liberties Union are calling it Unconstitutional.

In Tennessee the Senate just passed a bill that requires a 500-foot buffer zone between a funeral, burial or funeral procession and its protesters. Those that come closer than 500 feet could be charged with a Class C misdemeanor, punishable up to six months in jail and a $500 fine. Other states as nearby as Kentucky and Missouri agree. Those states have already passed new laws limiting protests at funerals.

Of course the ACLU are claiming the bill is unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been lobbying against Black’s bill, saying the measure violates Americans’ First Amendment rights.

“Even speech that is cruel, distasteful and upsetting is protected by the First Amendment,” said Hedy Weinberg, the executive director of ACLU of Tennessee. “The best answer to this speech is not speech restrictions, but more speech.”

Weinberg said the bill, while “well intentioned,” could have unintended side effects that would make it illegal, for example, to protest within 500 feet of the funeral of a person who died while in police custody.

In addition, Weinberg said the bill is not necessary because standing state and local laws already prohibit trespassing on private property.

“These distances are far too restrictive on free speech rights,” Weinberg said.

Louisiana has a similar bill in the works, and they too are recieving resistance from the ACLU.

To us, respect for the dead and for grieving loved ones mandates that protest groups be barred from demonstrating at funerals or during funeral processions. Who would oppose a law designed to achieve that?

That’s a no-brainer, of course. The American Civil Liberties Union would.

The ACLU will argue against Thompson’s bill, claiming it would violate the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech.

The ACLU does many worthwhile things; this is not one of them. We believe the framers of the Constitution would have been horrified by the argument that, in approving the First Amendment, they had guaranteed the right to disrupt funerals, disturb mourners and destroy the dignity of the most solemn of observances.

This argument by the ACLU is as absurd as its claim that, when former Gov. Mike Foster asked people to pray for rain during a severe drought a few years ago, he violated the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion and tried to turn Louisiana into an Iran-like theocracy.

Thompson’s bill is reasonable. It would make it unlawful for anyone to picket or protest within 1,000 feet “of any church, cemetery or funeral establishment” from one hour before the services until one hour after their conclusion.

Maximum penalties would be six months in jail, a fine of $100, or both.

Beyond my anger and disgust with the hate this bizarre cult is spreading, I believe the First Amendment protects people’s right to peacefully assemble. I find it odd that the ACLU are not protecting the right of those who wish to mourn the fallen to assemble without being harassed by lunatic cultists. These people are free to believe whatever they wish. The laws being presented are not infringing upon their right to expression. They can go 500 to 1,000 feet away and protest all they want. What these bills are attempting to do is no different than laws that protect political figures from protesters with reasonable buffer zones. It is also odd that the ACLU have fought on the opposite side when those being protested against were abortion clinics. However it isn’t suprising, as we see more and more everyday, that the ACLU are selective in what kind of messages they protect as free speech, and which ones they either ignore or downright fight against.

Others: Leaning Straight Up
Mr. Minority
Dumbass of the Week
Euphoric Reality
Moonbattery
Tacjammer
SondraK
Linked at Mudville Gazette

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Ping.fm Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Email This Email This

Posted by Jay on March 14, 2006 11:55 am

» Filed Under ACLU, News, War On Terror

Trackback URL:

Links

Comments

5 Responses to “ACLU Protects Funeral Protesters”

  1. Kathy on March 14th, 2006 12:35 pm

    While the ACLU fights and the states debate legislation there is one group of volunteers who nationally have been addressing this issue since August of 2005. The Patriot Guard Riders (http://www.patriotguard.org/) has over 17,000 members and is increasing their numbers daily. PGR was formed as a direct response to the Phelps group activities. They serve as an honor guard of motorcycle riders who buffer the noise of the hecklers by revving their bikes motors in addition to carrying flags to show their support of the military. They are all volunteers (ex-military, family of ex-military, non-military supporting the cause) who only attend the soldiers funerals at the request of the soldiers family. They do not confront the hecklers, they outgun them. Donations can be made on their website to help with the cost of advertising, etc. to support the soldiers and their families.

  2. ACLU FTW on May 2nd, 2006 11:37 pm

    So how come no one tried to make laws when the Phelps group protested funerals of dead homosexuals? These states only cared when they protested veteran funerals.

  3. loginimpaired on May 3rd, 2006 4:13 am

    For this one, I have to support the ACLU. The laws they are fighting also prevent those supporting the troops, the war and whatever else from being within whatever distance. This also could includes someone that fought with the hero that gave their life and simply wanted to show respect.

  4. Ogre on May 3rd, 2006 10:32 am

    I do like the Patriot Guard’s Solution — forget government, they can’t do anything right. Beat the snot out of the idiots and all will be well.

  5. You lack understanding on May 4th, 2006 9:16 pm

    People who bash the ACLU have no understanding of it’s purpose. The ACLU isn’t some liberal agenda looking to turn America into a communist nation. They specifically target and challenge potentially controversial or nonconstitutional laws, and run them through the time-honored process called “Judicial Review.” In case you don’t know what that is, please check out this helpful Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_review#Judicial_review_in_the_United_States

    Now that you know what you’re dealing with, consider the cases that the ACLU takes, those where there may not be anyone willing or able to afford challenging the decision are prevalent, but they will take up any fight that may prove the legislators were not making laws to follow the United States Constitution.

    So before you go calling someone a communist, make sure they’re not defending a precedent of this country that is nearly as old as this country. If a law is meant to be, it will be upheld by the courts, belief may be a factor in the zealotry of some members of the ACLU, but the goal is not to tear down laws for the sake of turning the country in to a communist cesspool or create a band of hate-cultists to ruin funerals across America.

    Please, as one of your linked websites to the left says, “Get A CLU!”

»
»

  • Advertise

  • Donate

  • Our Store

    • ACLU Bulldozer
    • Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!

  • Syndicate Me