Arizona passes bill making it illegal to protest near a funeral.

[Cleita]

http://chicago.gopride.com/news/article.cfm/articleid/15795369/arizona-passes-bill-making-it-illegal-to-protest-near-a-funeral

Phoenix, AZ — Arizona lawmakers voted unanimously Tuesday to pass emergency legislation that would block the controversial Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) from picketing near a funeral in that state.

Tueday's bipartisan legislative action is in response to WBC's planned protest at the funerals of those killed in the tragic shooting in Tucson, including the funeral of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.

"It is the most disgusting thing I ever read in my entire life. I literally threw up after I read it ... I'm like, 'I'm gonna fix this'," Democratic state senator Kyrsten Sinema told Fox News after reading Westboro's protest announcement. more at above link

Part of me applauds this and says it's time to stand up to the Westboro Baptist Church and part of me says it's a slippery slope to limiting our rights of assembly. :shrug:

[MindandSoul]

1. I do applaud it with no restrain! If we are not able to limit our own rights

through reason. . .someone better do it for us. . .or the consequences can be dear!

[Joe the Revelator]

2. It won't stand up constitutionally, which doesn't matter, because it will stand up this week for the

funerals.

[Lisa0825]

3. I think it is appropriate.

I would never protest at a funeral, even Evil Dick's.

[stray cat]

4. Funerals should have a right to privacy for those mourning

[kestrel91316]

5. It's been said that you can't legislate morality. But you can damned well try,

and WBC can't get this case to court before they bury Christina Greene.

[ChazII]

6. A local reporter said

that protesters will have to keep their distance 1 hour before and 1 hour after the funeral. I think that the distance is 100 yards.

[Cirque du So-What]

7. I bet Fred Phelps' useless clan are chortling with glee at this announcement

I believe they've been hoping for something like this to use as the basis of a civil suit. They've been hoping for an excuse to sue hell out of some municipality or state for denying them the civil right to protest, and it looks like Arizona is delivering an opportunity on a silver platter. Lawmakers don't need to be lawyers, but they need a basic understanding that their decisions can open a legal can of worms.

[fairfaxvadem]

8. So, limit the 1st Amendment....

and elevate the 2nd Amendment? I find it beyond ironic that Arizona, a state with some of the most liberal gun laws, decides to limit free speech. I can't go along with this.

I think Fred Phelps and his family cult members are total pigs and should be publicly ridiculed often and counter-protested and hounded out of town by the citizenry. But for the Arizona legislature to curtail their 1st Amendment rights and by doing so, elevate the 2nd Amendment with their very liberal gun laws, is just about the worst thing they could do. And certainly shows an incredible ignorance of our laws.

I understand why they want to - these people are disgusting - but the hypocrisy blows my mind.

[Canuckistanian]

9. It might not survive a 1st Amendment challenge

And you know damn well that Phelps & his slime will do just that. They LIVE for challenges just like this. AND, they'll expect compensation.

It's what they do.

[littlewolf]

11. yep .. I don't know how it will play out ...

limiting their access to the funeral area itself ... by 100 yds ... it might stand up ...

[Poll_Blind]

10. It's a shame they let scumbags like the Phelps' force their hand on our Constitutional rights.

To legislate away the rights of an odious minority also legislates away the rights of the well-mannered majority. The problem is the slippery slope which legislation like this introduces to our Constitutional rights. Under Bush we threw fit after fit (rightly, IMO) about the abrogation of our First Amendment rights involving protesting of Bush and Cheney speaking. These sorts of laws are convenient. But their convenience comes at a high cost down the road where even worse individuals than the Westboro Baptist Church will use the precedents set now and in the future to further abrogate our rights.

And, when looking back at that (dimmer) point in the future and surveying the road we took to get to that darker place, we very well may see the road lined with the brightest, sparkling intentions.

PB

[OnionPatch]

12. Good. It's about time.

I'm all for freedom of speech, but funerals are non-political, semi-private gatherings, and it seems to me that what Fred Phelps and his group does is sheer harassment. He's not even protesting the people at the funeral, just a vague concept, it's ridiculous. Maybe this won't stand, but I'm so glad those monsters are denied, at least this time.

[lukasahero]

13. Good for them!

It's about time someone did.

[cynatnite]

14. It stops it long enough to have the funerals, I think...

I don't think it will stand, but for now, it might keep these freaks away.

I'm not crazy about laws like these even though the message is a vile one.

[get the red out]

15. Harassment and protest are two different things

"Protests" at funerals are harassment IMO, they are aimed at non-officials primarily, in a very difficult time. Individual families don't deserve to be dragged through hell by people simply wanting to make someone angry enough to hit them, then sue. They should be spared grifters, and this is what the Westboro bunch is, they have NOTHING in common with people who actually "protest" some official act, person, or idea; even teabaggers. To me this law is like a "no solicitors please sign". The slippery slope is what we are sliding down right now, with all kinds of harassment being called protest and calls for treason and murder over the airwaves being referred to as simply "freedom of speech".

[Cleita]

16. So why hasn't the law been able to define this and

make the distinction. I think it's about time. Good post, get the red out

[get the red out]

17. Polarization

I think our country is so polarized that it is difficult for the law to define anything. Everything is about which "side" gets the upper hand on every issue. That's just my very amateur opinion anyway.

[Cleita]

18. Should make the memorials interesting today. n/t