ACLU defense of Westboro hate group is wrong

I was a member of the ACLU because I want the rights of all Americans protected but I discovered the ACLU is not interested in protecting the rights of everyone. If they were then they would see that allowing the Westboro hate group stalk and then harass families trying to bury someone they love, they don't deserve support. These families are forced to look at their signs and hear their hateful words. The rights of the families should be equally important to the ACLU. The ugly truth is, Westboro has a right to say what they want, but no one should be forced to listen to them. It is part of the free speech rights we all have. We can say whatever we want but people have the choice to listen or not, stay or walk away. Families at a funeral should not be forced to listen to the people attacking them. This law protects the families while still allowing Westboro to protest and say what they want but they have no right to make people listen to them. This is all about the media attention they want and nothing more. No where in the Bill of Rights or the Constitution does it provide for media attention. We do still have a free press and they are allowed to cover whatever they want. Or not.

Free speech is not being muffled. They just don't have the right to demand an audience. The ACLU lawyers should have used some common sense on this along with some common decency.

ACLU: New funeral law stifles speech
By Kevin Cirilli
Politico
© August 9, 2012

A law just signed by President Barack Obama that makes it more difficult for protesters to picket military funerals has already drawn fire from the American Civil Liberties Union, which says it muffles free speech.

The legislation, which Obama signed Monday as part of the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act, doubles the distance picketers must keep away from funerals, from 150 feet to 300 feet. It also restricts such protests from happening two hours before or after the services. The previous law had a one-hour restriction.

Obama said upon signing the bill that he believed it was a reasonable restriction on the freedoms of speech and assembly.

“The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground,” he said. “We all defend our Constitution and the First Amendment and free speech, but we also believe that when men and women die in the service of their country and are laid to rest, it should be done with the utmost honor and respect.”

ACLU litigation policy adviser Gabriel Rottman says the new measures stifle free speech. And though the protesters’ message may be unpopular, that doesn’t make it unconstitutional, he said.

“This law is about making the message a federal crime, and that’s a violation of the Constitution to which members of the military swear their oath,” Rottman told Politico.
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update
This is what this bill is all about.

Veterans express thanks for funeral legislation
By Holly Ramer
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 9, 2012

CONCORD, N.H. — A Henniker woman whose son was killed in Afghanistan in 2006 said Thursday that she is thankful that other families will be spared the the worry she felt along with her grief during his funeral.

While there were no protestors at her son's funeral, Jean Durgin said she feared there would be because members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas had shown up at services for other soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At a news conference marking the signing of a bill to limit such disruptions, Durgin said it is incomprehensible that parents should have to worry about protestors when burying their children.
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