Dad of a fallen Marine perseveres against protests at military funerals
By Gordon Lubold Gordon Lubold –
Tue Mar 30, 8:09 pm ET Washington – A father of a Marine killed in Iraq says he won't pay the legal fees of a protest group who picketed at his son's funeral in 2006 – at least not until he hears from the US Supreme Court on the matter.
Albert Snyder, whose son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq, learned Friday that a federal appeals court is requiring him to pay more than $16,000 in legal fees to the Westboro Baptist Church, a Christian fundamentalist group that demonstrates during military funerals to gain attention for its antigovernment, antihomosexual message. The group rallied at Matthew Snyder’s funeral in March 2006 in Westminster, Md., chanting antigay slogans and carrying signs such as “Thank God for dead soldiers,” says Albert Snyder’s attorney, Sean Summers.
The group was protesting about 30 feet from the church’s main entrance, and Mr. Snyder had to enter through a separate entrance, Mr. Summers says.
Snyder subsequently sued the Westboro group for emotional distress and won a $5 million judgment. But on appeal, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding in favor of protecting the protesters' free-speech rights. About three weeks ago, the Supreme Court agreed to take the case and is expected to hear it in the fall. (Last year, the high court had declined to take up the issue.) Meanwhile, the circuit court has ordered Snyder, a salesman, to pay the church’s court expenses.
Snyder, of York, Pa., told Fox News on Tuesday that he would not pay the Westboro Baptist Church "until I hear from the Supreme Court."
“It’s fair to say that they are not getting any Christmas cards from Mr. Snyder,” adds Summers, in a phone interview. “He obviously thinks they are despicable and doesn’t understand why they would target him.”
The Westboro group has been protesting at military members’ funerals for years. The church leader, Fred Phelps, preaches that American deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality. (He was among those banned from Britain last year for fostering hatred or extremism.) The protests have nothing to do with the fallen service members' sexual orientation, and the church says its protests are held within a “lawful distance” of the funerals.
Ultimately, say some, the church protests are a matter of constitutionally protected free speech.
“I really don’t see that [the protest] was a violation of the First Amendment [principles]. It was a violation of decorum and good taste and all sorts of other things, but not a violation of the First Amendment,” says Charles Gittins, a civilian lawyer in Virginia.
But Summers argues that his client’s right to peaceful assembly and freedom of religion were infringed by the protests and that, unlike at a public park where people are free to express themselves, a funeral setting draws a “captive audience” that requires attendees to be in a particular location – they can’t simply walk away.
Westboro Baptist Church, which is based in Kansas, plans to protest in Florida on Wednesday, outside a funeral for a Marine killed in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan on March 22.
“Military funerals have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy, where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom and play taps to a fallen fool,” states a press release posted on the church’s website, announcing the rally at a memorial service for Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson. At the bottom of the press release are printed the words “Thank God for IEDs,” referring to the roadside bombs that have killed thousands of troops in both wars.
the article is here
should the SCOTUS do the wrong thing, I'll be sending this man a check to help out. What a bunch of classless assholes.
Comments (2)
I'd spend the rest of my life in prison as a political prisoner before I'd pay those morons a penny. Can you imagine if someone went to the funeral of a Westboro Baptist Church member are caused an uproar? They'd be tried, executed, and buried in the media and the court pronto.
The sad thing is, the left should be just as angry with those degenerates. The hatred they spew towards the homosexual community... and the left sits silent... You'd think those people would wake up and realize now that the left merely panders to them for votes and could care less what happens to them. The Westboro Babtist Church should be shut down and lose its tax-exempt status. It is nothing more than a cauldron of hate, and incest. Most of the congregation is family, so I think the IRS should look into it and make sure they're not skimming money!
But the left will do nothing, because they don't honestly care.
But if you honestly care, there are other legal fees Mr. Snyder still owes his own attorneys. Donations can be made at http://www.matthewsnyder.org leftover money will be put into a non-profit fund to help other soldiers.
Comments are closed.