Readers may remember the unconscionable appearances by members of a so-called religious group from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, at military funerals claiming that the deaths of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are God’s punishment for America’s acceptance of homosexuality. They show up at military funerals regardless of whether the fallen hero was gay or not.
They appear at funerals of our heroes carrying signs proclaiming “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” “America is Doomed,” “Fag Troops,” “You’re Going to Hell,” “God Hates You,” “Semper Fi Fags,” “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” and “Thank God for IEDs,” the latter a reference to the roadside bombs that have killed so many of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One of the most despicable appearances by this group occurred in March 2006 during the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, of Finksburg, Maryland, who died in Iraq on March 3 of that year. In addition to spewing their usual hate-filled ideology, they also distributed fliers with young Matthew’s picture and the words “Burial of an Ass.”
Following that infamous event in March 2006, Matthew Snyder’s father, Albert Snyder, filed a suit against the group’s leader, pastor Fred Phelps, and some of his followers winning a lower court decision only to have it thrown out last September by the 4th U.S. Court Circuit of Appeals.
The case will now be heard by the Supreme Court in the fall.
The Stars and Stripes reports today that twenty-two media organizations have sided with the Westboro Baptist Church against the father of the fallen marine and have filed a friend-of -the-court brief with the Supreme Court:
While not defending the Westboro Baptist Church’s actions, the 22 media organizations argued that the church is protected by the First Amendment. They also contend that the case could have a chilling effect on news gathering if Al Snyder prevails.
Read more of their argument here.
Several veterans groups have strongly criticized the media organizations.
I continue to stand by what I said in “Snyder v. Phelps: The Right to Mourn with Dignity,” a few months ago:
Of course, the First Amendment is one of our most cherished and inviolable constitutional rights.
At the same time, scholars will point out that there are reasonable exceptions and limitations to our free speech rights such as the classical yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater, defamation, obscenity, etc.
It remains to be seen whether the rights claimed by the Phelps group trump the rights of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters to mourn the loss of their loved ones with dignity. The right to grieve and pay their last respects to their departed heroes in privacy. The right to entrust their loved ones to their God with honor and without being stripped of their final memories. The right to look for closure without being subjected to the most obscene and cruel “intentional infliction of pain and emotional distress.”
What is so diabolically ironic is that the free speech rights Phelps and his flock hide behind have been paid for dearly by the very same military whose deaths and funerals they are so despicably mocking and violating.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.