Westboro hate church plans protest of U. S. Marine funeral

It doesn't seem to matter to Westboro if a serviceman or woman was gay or not. It doesn't seem to matter if they were married or not, had children or not, had people grieving for them or anything else other than proving they enjoy the ability to publicly hate the troops. A right they would not have had it not been for generations of other Americans paying the price for that right.

While it is true there is free speech in this country and even this kind of hate speech is protected, it is also coming with forcing the families to listen to them. When someone prints something hateful, we do not have to read it. When someone stands in the middle of the street screaming how much they hate someone, no one is forced to be there and can walk away. Yet when a family is in the process of burying a family member, especially in a publicized military funeral, they are forced to have to hear this hatred. They cannot decide to go some place else. They cannot decide it isn't worth burying their family member if they have to hear or read signs of hatred. They have to be there. Westboro people do not have to be there at all. They can thank God all they want for IED's and for the troops being killed but the rest of us wonder which God they are thanking.

There is a lot of talk about the free speech rights of this group but there is too little talk about what the rights of the families of the fallen are. What about their right to grieve without being attacked by a group trespassing on their own rights?

Hate church plans protest of U. S. Marine funeral
May 6, 2:49 PM
Birmingham Gay Community Examiner
Joe Openshaw
Lance Corporal Thomas E. Rivers, Jr., was killed due to enemy action while serving as a U. S. Marine in Afghanistan on April 28, 2010. His funeral is planned for Friday, May 7, 2010 near Birmingham, AL.

Westboro Baptist Church has announced a protest at the funeral of Lance Corporal Thomas E. Rivers.

Westboro Baptist Church, led by Fred Phelps, is best known as a hate group and uses anti-gay rhetoric in an attempt to gain publicity for themselves.

Equality Alabama has issued a statement in response to Westboro Baptist's planned protest.
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Hate church plans protest of U. S. Marine funeral