WASHINGTON (BP)–A measure specifically targeting protesters from a Kansas church has been approved by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in order to prohibit protests at military funerals at all 122 national cemeteries.
The “Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act” passed the Senate without objection and with no recorded vote May 24 after a nearly identical bill cleared the House 408-3 two weeks earlier. President Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law.
“American military men and women who give their lives in defense of our nation deserve a peaceful and honorable funeral,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R.-Mich., the House sponsor, said. “Their families also deserve the freedom to honor their loved ones and celebrate their lives without the harassment of protestors who are targeting military funerals.”
Under the Senate’s version, the fallen heroes act would bar protests within 300 feet of the entrance of a cemetery and within 150 feet of a road into the cemetery from 60 minutes before until 60 minutes after a funeral. Violators would face up to a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison.
Rogers, a military veteran and brother of a career Army officer who has served in Iraq, introduced the legislation after attending a funeral for a Michigan soldier killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Congressman witnessed firsthand a group led by Fred Phelps holding signs and hurling insults at those who attended the funeral. Phelps is pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., which has no affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention.
“What [the soldier’s family] was subjected to was nothing short of criminal,” Rogers said. “The vile, taunting hate speech went way beyond the bounds of common decency, and was clearly intended to harass and mock the families and their mourning.”
Phelps and his extended family have long made a practice of picketing with offensive language on signs at various events, often taunting homosexuals, but lately they’ve approached grieving military families with words such as “Thank God for IEDs,” or improvised explosive devices, which have killed a large number of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Phelps and his followers from Westboro Baptist Church — an independent church notorious for its “God hates fags” posters — have staged protests at soldiers’ funerals in several states. The group reasons that roadside bombs killing American troops in Iraq are God’s retribution against America for a small bomb that caused approximately $1,800 damage outside the Topeka home of one of Phelps’ daughters in 1995. The group also emphasizes that it opposes the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents homosexuals from serving openly but also prohibits the military from asking soldiers about their sexual preference.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said the bill would “preserve the dignity of military funerals while balancing our first amendment rights to free speech” because families “should never have to be harassed by protestors of any stripe as they bury their fallen warriors.”
“It’s a sad but necessary measure to protect what should be recognized by all reasonable people as a solemn, private and deeply sacred occasion,” Frist said on the Senate floor.
More than a dozen states are considering similar laws to restrict protests at nonfederal cemeteries.
Phelps has accused Congress of “blatantly violating the First Amendment” right to free speech, the Associated Press reported, but he said he will abide by the bill’s restrictions in future protests.
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