It looks like Illinois’ efforts to stop Westboro Baptist Church’s anti-gay funeral protests has hit a roadblock
An effort to stop radical anti-gay protesters from disrupting soldiers’ funerals is hung up in the Illinois Senate, as proponents wrestle with union concerns that the law could be used to curtail legitimate labor protests by cemetery workers.The legislation was filed in response to the tactics of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., which has been staging confrontational protests at funerals around the nation of soldiers killed in Iraq, including several in Illinois. The group, touting slogans like “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” claims the deaths are divine retribution for America’s tolerance of homosexuality.
The bill, HB 4532, creates the new misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct at a funeral or memorial service, and forbids “knowingly engag[ing] in a march or picket at [a] funeral site at any public location located within 200 feet of any ingress or egress of that funeral site.” The unions have asked for special treatment, allowing them to continue to protest at cemeteries, but banning all other protests:
“We share the outrage to the horrible disrespect that’s been shown to these soldiers … but this bill would make felons out of (cemetery) workers for carrying out their rights,” said David Martino, lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union Local 1, which represents about 2,000 cemetery workers in the Chicago area.
The union has a point, but it’s not the point they think they have. Any protest at a funeral is disrespectful, whether the message is Westboro’s perverse claims about homosexuality or the union’s demand for better pay for grave-diggers. Either you accept that freedom of speech means freedom for reprehensible idiots, too, or you forbid all speech near funerals. The union shouldn’t expect a free pass.
UPDATE: Captain Ed makes the point better than I do. Freedom of speech is absolute. Just as we let the Nazis march in Skokie, we must let Fred Phelps make an ass of himself at funerals. The answer, as always, is more speech, not less. And organizations like the Patriot Guard stand ready to provide the speech. It’s interesting that conservatives, who presumably opposed the abortion clinic no-free-speech zones at issue in Madsen, now support such no-free-speech zones at funerals.
