THE DAY LONG BEACH BEAT WESTBORO BAPTISTS AT THEIR OWN FREE SPEECH
By Dave Wielenga
The hardest thing to swallow about the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the First Amendment freedom-of-speech rights of the despicable Westboro Baptist Church—which in March 2006 celebrated the funeral of U.S. Marine Matthew Snyder with signs like “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” and “You’re Going to Hell”—is that it’s almost certainly the right decision.
“Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and – as it did here – inflict great pain,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in the 8-1 decision announced Wednesday. “On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a nation we have chosen a different course—to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”
As a city, the people of Long Beach spontaneously chose that course about a year ago when members of the Westboro Baptist Church popped up around town to wave their hateful signs at the Alpert Community Jewish Center, the Performing Arts Center, Bluff Park and Wilson High School. Rather than stifle public debate, people turned out by the thousands to deliberate.
Of course, the Westboro Baptist Church—basically, the wife, kids and grandchildren of Rev. Fred Phelps—doesn’t really debate public issues so much as seek attention for extreme points of view by throwing bad-taste parties. In the case decided by the Supremem Court, church members claimed that Snyder’s death proved their assertion that God is punishing the United States for its tolerance of gay rights by causing the deaths of U.S. service members in overseas wars, and they celebrated by showing up at his funeral to wave ridiculous signs and sing self-righteous songs.
And on that day in Long Beach, the members of the Westboro Baptist Church were confronted on their own terms—those protected by the First Amendment—and speech flowed freely.
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As despicable as the WBC’s activities are, they are, and should be, constitutionally protected.
As the sole dissenter in the decision, Justice Samuel Alito said: “Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case,” Alito wrote. “In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims like petitioner.”
Yes, but neither is it necessary to prohibit, as a matter of law, those who choose to engage in free and open debate, whatever disgusting form their method of debate takes. The moment we start saying, again as a matter of law, that *this* political speech is ok, but *that* political speech is not, we all, as a people, become considerably less free.
It is better to deal with knuckleheads like WBC members as Long Beach chose to do previously, either through equally lawful counter-protests, or by ignoring them, or both.
To suppress the free political speech of goofballs like the WBC is to place everyone else’s free political speech at considerable and self-evident risk.
That is a risk I am not willing to take. I am pleased that SCOTUS agreed.
Free speech isn’t pretty, but LB showed how to bite back. I was quite proud.
Citizen Journalist Cosmic Irony of the Day – God, Destiny or Fate
Perhaps God, according to recent media reports, does work in mysterious ways.
In 2006 Marine Matthew Snyder dies in Iraq and his body is returned to the United States for burial. Topeka, Kan. members of the Westboro Baptist Church decide to protest outside the Westminster, Md., church where Snyder’s funeral is held.
The Westboro Baptist Church members are picketing military funerals to draw attention to their view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God’s punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.
On March 2, 2011 the United States Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment protects fundamentalist church members who mount anti-gay protests outside military funerals, despite the pain they cause grieving families.
The court voted 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church. The decision upheld an appeals court ruling that threw out a $5 million judgment to Marine Matthew Snyder’s father who sued the church members after they picketed his son’s funeral.
SUMMARY
Matthew Snyder joined the Marine Corps and took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of United States of America. The First Amendment of Constitution guarantees our freedom of religion, speech and the right to peaceful assembly.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a protected religious group, according to the Supreme Court, can exercise their First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceful assembly by protesting at the funeral of Marine Matthew Snyder, who died in Iraq while supporting and defending the Westboro Baptist Church member’s constitutional rights: freedom of religion, speech and right to peaceful assembly.
(Cosmic Irony: The idea that fate, destiny, or a god controls and toys with human hopes and expectations.)
This is how we roll in the LBC!!! Nice going!!!
That’s my friend’s girlfriend with the “I <3 Pussy" Sharpie tattoo! There's a pretty good photo of them making out directly in front of the "God Hates Fags" signs, which is made even more hilarious by the fact that she is black and you know that the only thing gay-bashers hate more than same-sex tongue is interracial saliva swaps.