Westboro Baptist Church ordered to pay!

[keltic63]

Anti-Gay Church is ordered to pay 10.9 million dollars to family of Marine

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A jury on Wednesday ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $10.9 million in damages to relatives of a U.S. Marine after church members cheered his death at his funeral.

The federal jury determined the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, and three of its principals invaded the privacy of the dead man's family and inflicted emotional distress when they protested at his funeral last year.

Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder died in combat in Iraq in March 2006.

Snyder's father testified that his son was not gay, but the church targeted the military as a symbol of America's tolerance of gays.

Church members said the soldier's death was God's punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality.

[u-dog]

Originally Posted by keltic63

Anti-Gay Church is ordered to pay 10.9 million dollars to family of Marine

Dang it Keltic!! You beat me to it! I was racing here to post this news!! (Good news!!)

[tdogg]

Just got this alert before leaving work. Yeah! 'Bout time.

[Progo35]

Happy Happy Happy Whoo hoo! Yeah!

[BruceChris]

Hey guys, I keep getting the feeling that there must be something WRONG with me, to be feeling This good about Fred's misfortunes.

P&L, BC

We will undoubtedly see a sharp increase in the ratio of rhetoric to public visibility, at least for the near future.

[Progo35]

It must be a contagious disease

[keltic63]

Originally Posted by BruceChris

Hey guys, I keep getting the feeling that there must be something WRONG with me, to be feeling This good about Fred's misfortunes.

P&L, BC

This is not quite the same as a fundie-gelical pastor getting arrested for soliciting anonymous gay sex.

This is rejoicing because the court system worked, and now Fred is experiencing the consequences of his actions. It's particularly satisfying to us because we are the group he persecutes so violently. I say, go ahead and feel good BC!

[hippie4lyfe]

I have mixed feelings about this, and I understand I am likely of a minority opinion. I of course can't stand Phelps or his bigoted views. However, as a strong defender of civil liberties I do believe in his 1st amendment rights to free speech. Think about it, just because a view is unpopular does not mean it should be shunned, otherwise LGBT people would never be able to have pride parades because the majority would dismiss us as immoral heathens.

That being said I am glad Fred has got a bill to pay because he is psycho and evil. I do feel though this judge was unfair, and that there should be an appeal because Phelps and his nutty clan should have the right to protest on public property. Plus he will not have 10.9 million to give, so this just seems silly and pointless. He can file chapter 11 and open up a new church.

[Dumbledore]

Originally Posted by keltic63

Anti-Gay Church is ordered to pay 10.9 million dollars to family of Marine

Wake up Fredie

[scrupulous_stoic]

Hmmm...due to the fact that this "church" is almost made up entirely of one family, do you think that they even have the money to pay? Do you think this could cause their infamous "God Hates F***" and "God Hates Sweden" websites to be closed down due to lack of funding?

I tried getting on their website to see how they are taking this blow to their corrupt agenda, but it seems the page cannot be displayed.

[Unmasked]

Oooh, this calls for dancing.

While I respect the right to free speech, there is a time and a place when it needs to stop. I have an enormous amount of respect for the dead, and to profane a funeral is a great crime in my mind. Fred has been given enough warning. Free speech is one thing, defamation of character is another. He has been exploiting God for long enough.

Enough seriousness though. DANCE WITH ME!

[tpdncr4christ]

great. now fred is gonna hate the government more! haha... at least is shows him that picketing people who died so he could picket people isn't the best idea.

[Alecto]

Originally Posted by hippie4lyfe

I have mixed feelings about this, and I understand I am likely of a minority opinion. I of course can't stand Phelps or his bigoted views. However, as a strong defender of civil liberties I do believe in his 1st amendment rights to free speech. Think about it, just because a view is unpopular does not mean it should be shunned, otherwise LGBT people would never be able to have pride parades because the majority would dismiss us as immoral heathens.

That being said I am glad Fred has got a bill to pay because he is psycho and evil. I do feel though this judge was unfair, and that there should be an appeal because Phelps and his nutty clan should have the right to protest on public property. Plus he will not have 10.9 million to give, so this just seems silly and pointless. He can file chapter 11 and open up a new church.

Free speech is dandy. As a general rule, I'll agree with that. But it's already got certain limitations. And, let's be honest, I don't think shouting obscenities at grieving families is quite what the forefathers had in mind. I would very much like to believe that if a gay rights activist showed up at the funeral of any one of the Phelps clan, similar action would be taken. As it hasn't happened yet, we can't know for sure, but what I'm saying is that it's not that their views can't be expressed. It's that there are time and place limitations. Pro-life protesters need to keep a certain distance away from abortion clinics. This guy needs to keep a certain distance away from funerals.

[Progo35]

Although, I think that Phelps is evil and the pro life protesters are not generally, but I see your poiint

[antiochian]

:tup :

In ur face "Pastor" Phelps!!!

[hippie4lyfe]

Well, I am adamantly pro-choice on the issue of abortion but I strongly support the rights of anti-choice protesters to demonstrate in front of abortion clinics. How can we limit their right to speech? As long as they stand on the side walk and don't violate the women going in, I don't see anything wrong with it.

Likewise I support Phelp's right to stand in front of a funeral home, as disgusting as it may seem. Maybe it isnt what the founders had in mind, but times have changed and the constitution is a living document, we must use it to interpret modern day events and situations.

When we begin to limit the speech of one, we are slowly taking away all our rights.

Just based on your finding Phelps view offensive in front of a funeral home, I could on that basis argue...

I am offended by a gay pride parade passing through main street by my church.

The fact is we must stand for all forms of protected speech, the only speech that is not protected is incitement to fear or violence. You cannot scream fire in a theater, or urge people to go out and hurt others. That is not protected.

[paul]

Originally Posted by hippie4lyfe

I have mixed feelings about this, and I understand I am likely of a minority opinion. I of course can't stand Phelps or his bigoted views. However, as a strong defender of civil liberties I do believe in his 1st amendment rights to free speech. Think about it, just because a view is unpopular does not mean it should be shunned, otherwise LGBT people would never be able to have pride parades because the majority would dismiss us as immoral heathens.

These people had there protest, they had their say. God is just 'punishing' them for their hate.

[loug]

My Rev. told me about this the other day during Eucharist. She attempted to remain impartial throughout dinner, but when I nudged her, she simple responded "oh, all right! I'm feeling damn good about this! There! I said it!"

Bless her.

GPL

[scrupulous_stoic]

Don't be too estatic. Apparently, they are happy for the publicity from the lawsuit. On their website, they have made a little pic that looks like on of the signs they us that states "Thank God 10.9 Mil."

[tdogg]

I don't see a gay pride parade and a funeral as being the same thing.

Gay pride parades normally (probably always) are public affairs planned in advance, advertised and usually are recurring events that people have knowledge of and can plan around it. So, if I'm offended by a gay pride parade, then I have a choice to attend or not, or if it's marching past my house, I can watch out the windows or go elsewhere.

At a funeral, it's (hopefully) not a recurring event, is planned at the last minute with little or no advertising, is a private affair and normally attended by sad, grieving close family and friends. The person being offensive (in this case Phelps) would have to hunt down the funeral and take specific action to cause additional pain to a grieving group of people who are not at a public event or in the public eye.

Now, if i wanted to have a gay pride parade party, and parked it on the public sidewalk in front of a nice fundamentalist A of G church during Sunday morning service, I could see where that would cross the lines of free speech into harrassment.

There's a huge difference here, at least in my opinion.