It’s probably more American to despise Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church than it is to like them. I have yet to meet someone who thinks, “Oh, Fred Phelps, yeah I think he’s a great guy”; I have yet to know anyone who “likes” him on Facebook (if there is a Facebook fan page, I refuse to check on principle). I do, however, know multiple people who cannot stand the man and think he is doing more harm to Christianity than good. I’ll even argue that his supreme hatred for gays, and the media’s attention of it, has probably brought more acceptance of gays and lesbians than achieving the goal set out by the Phelps clan. It’s just a theory, nothing to test out. It is fun to think about it like that though- here this man who hates a group of people so much, that his hatred is actually helping them by being unreasonably malicious.
It kills me to say this, but when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Westboro Baptist Church 8-1 in the case Phelps vs. Snyder, I agreed with their decision. In case you have been living under a rock these past couple of years, the Westboro clan have made a name for themselves picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in combat with signs saying things like “God Hates Fags” or Semper Fi Fags.” Yeah, they’re real class acts. Albert Snyder’s situation was no different. He had lost his son in combat and at his son’s burial, he was picketed by Westboro Baptist Church. The picketers followed the law and protested the appropriate 1,000 feet distance away from the funeral. Mr. Snyder sued Westboro and won a lawsuit for $5 million dollars. This was thrown out by the appellate judge and now made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
One of the interesting thing about this case is that Mr. Snyder never saw the protests during the funeral. It was afterwards, when he saw the TV coverage of the event that he saw the signs and decided to sue. This is one of the main reasons why I supported Justices’ decision. If he had seen these events during the funeral, I could understand and partly sided with him. It wasn’t until later that he noticed it and then sued. Had he seen it during the funeral, I could see more of the Justices siding with Justice Alito, the lone dissenter.
It's weird to say I side with Westboro Baptist Church, but it’s even weirder when I agree with Justice Roberts. Justice Roberts writes, "Westboro addressed matters of public import on public property, in a peaceful manner, in full compliance with the guidance of local officials." He continues with, "The placards highlighted issues of public import -- the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens, the fate of the nation, homosexuality in the military and scandals involving the Catholic clergy -- and Westboro conveyed its views on those issues in a manner designed to reach as broad a public audience as possible.” Even though the court acknowledged that they were hurtful, the truth is they weren’t directed at the family and they weren’t concerning private matters. They were discussing issues that are relevant to the public and not necessarily to the family. They were using the attention and the shock of protesting to benefit their cause.
Is picketing a funeral with signs of vitriolic hate wrong? In my opinion yes, it is. Is it protected? Now it is, but from what I can tell, the laws restricting them to a certain distance away are still in place. The decision to me had more to do with the lawsuit than the actual laws restraining the picketing. The beauty of free speech is that we can say things about our society in the most ludicrious way and it's protected. I might not like what they say, but do they have a right to say it? Yes, they do. I only wonder what the outcome of this case would have been if it was a stronger case. What if the son was a gay soldier? Would it have changed the outcome? A part of me would like to think so. A part of me hates that the Phelps Clan won this one (his daughter actually argued in front of the Supreme Court, not him). The hatred this man has spewed over the years is ridiculous. The things he has said about Matthew Sheppard is enough to make anyone hate him. I have to tell myself that I agree with the Court’s decision, not with Phelps.
Even though I have strongly disliked Westboro Baptist Church and Mr. Phelps, I have done everything in my power to fight them the best way I know how- ignoring them. This will be the only time that I will write about them. I don’t feel like they are worth any more time and attention than this article is worth. Also, if we as a nation stop talking about them, then maybe, just maybe, they will go off into obscurity and never be heard from again. Maybe in a couple of months, once the attention from this case has died down, we can go back to not caring what the Phelps Clan has to say.
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