Supreme Court to decide on anti-gay protests at military funerals

Top court to decide on anti-gay protests at military funerals
James Vicini
WASHINGTON
Mon Mar 8, 2010 1:07pm EST

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide whether constitutional free-speech rights protected anti-gay protests by members of a Kansas church at funerals for U.S. military members killed in Iraq.

The high court agreed to consider whether the protesters' message and picketing was protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, even though it was a private family funeral.

The justices said they would hear an appeal by Albert Snyder, the father of a Marine killed in Iraq in 2006. The family's traditional funeral service was held at St. John's Catholic Church in Westminster, Maryland.

The funeral for Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder drew picketing by members of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.

Westboro Pastor Fred Phelps and other church members have picketed at funerals of U.S. military members killed in Iraq or Afghanistan as part of their religious view that God is punishing America for its tolerance of gays and lesbians.
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