The New Funeral Protection Law

    I may have been the first Alabamian to interview Rev. Fred Phelps, the head of that Kansas Church whose members started protesting at the funerals of people who died of AIDS in the late 1980's or early 1990's.
    It was a talk-radio interview, and I was even more astounded at his brazen hatred after the interview than I was before.
    And yet....word today that Governor Bentley has signed a bill banning protesters from within a "respectful" distance of funerals is troubling. The bill, and others like it across the country, only came about because of Phelps diversification. Instead of targeting just AIDS victims, he started protesting at the funerals of just about anyone, including soldiers who died in war. He has been to Alabama several times.
    Last year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of Phelps protests.
    And the Phelps protest that resulted in the High Court ruling included a police enforced thousand-foot distance from the funeral! Does the Governor think the court will treat Alabama's law differently?
    As much as most civil-minded people will hate the tiny church's activities, they should hate even more a restriction on political speech.

•  Some people hated the Tea Party protests at town hall meetings and elsewhere. Should they have been restricted to staying a thousand feet away?
•  At the start of the Iraq Wars, there were people who opposed the wildly popular military actions. Should they too have been kept away from The Pentagon or other military installations? 
• Should the thousands who marched from Selma to Montgomery have been rerouted to tiny county dirt roads and then allowed to protest only in the Paterson Field parking lots?

     Let's respect the service of those who died, without disrespecting them by preventing Americans, even despised Americans, from exercising the very freedoms those service members fought for.

    The Gadsden Times story linked above quotes Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard as saying it is a shame such a law is needed. 

    He is right. 

    The law is a shame.