if you've been following the news at all, you must've heard about the supreme court's decision about westboro baptist church (google news links, summary article). and as terrible, shameful, despicable, hateful, disrespectful as i find these westboro baptist protesters to be, i think the supreme court made the right decision (though justice alito dissented).
also in the news last week was dior designer john galliano's anti-semitic rants in paris (google news links). galliano was fired from dior and is now facing possible jail time for his racist remarks.
not to trivialize galliano's disgusting behavior, but many people think it's a bit unfair that a drunk guy saying racist things should get jail time, when gay-bashers with hateful signs can show up to a funeral of a soldier (who may or may not be gay!!) and have our highest judicial power defend their right to do so.
but galliano was in france. and we're in the states. and i don't think ANY other country takes "freedom of speech" as seriously as we do. it's illegal in france to say anti-semitic things. and i heard in germany it's illegal to name your kids after hitler (unable to verify this tho). and it's illegal in lots of other countries, to say anything against the government (even if it's actually true!).
but every citizen of america has the right to free speech in america. the westboro protesters can say hateful things, and i have the right to protest at one of their funerals and say equally hateful things, if not worse! of course, i'm not a fucking douche bag so i wouldn't do that.
the thing i have a problem with, is that as much freedom of speech as we have, there are limitations. i can't say "fuck" on regular tv. that's kind of weird, actually. i'm also not allowed to say defamatory things about people (tho i think the westboro baptist protesters are defaming god when they say stuff like "god blew up the shuttle" and "god hates fags" but i think in order for it to count, he'd have to press charges...)
why couldn't the supreme court have set up limitations for the protesters? you can protest, but only from 500 yards away, or anywhere that's not on the funeral route.
it's so disrespectful! this war we're fighting, it's not over gay rights! (it's debatable what we're actually for but for damn sure it's not gay rights). this soldier didn't die for gay rights. in fact, many of these soldiers may actually be against gay rights (most americans are anyway, and soldiers tend to be more conservative, upping their chance of being anti gay rights). if god really hated america because we like gays, why didn't he cause 9-11 to happen in san fransisco or hollywood? i mean, new york? they're liberal, but i wouldn't have picked them as the poster city for gay rights. america even!! why not the netherlands: "the first country in the world to grant full marriage and registered partnership rights for same-sex couples" [source], or even spain, cananda or south africa! yes, certain u.s. states have given rights to same-sex couples, but many haven't. and our federal government doesn't have laws protecting one thing or another.
gah. anyway. i agree with chief justice roberts who said that the 1st amendment protects "even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate." tho i really wish that the westboro baptist protesters could see that whatever your opinion on gay rights or free speech, you should be respectful of the dead. especially those who died to protect you and this country with its very liberal freedom of speech laws.
and to finish this up on a funny note: the 30 best anti-westboro baptist church protest signs
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