News
2007-04-13
Kansas governor
signs funeral picketing law
Kansas
governor Kathleen Sebelius on Thursday signed a law
forcing an antigay pastor and his followers to keep
their
Kansas
governor Kathleen Sebelius on Thursday signed a law
forcing an antigay pastor and his followers to keep
their distance when protesting military funerals, but
the church claims the new rules will have no effect on
its demonstrations.
Members of the
Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church, led by the Reverend
Fred Phelps, have picketed burials around the country of
U.S. troops killed in combat, claiming their deaths
are God's punishment for a nation harboring
homosexuals.
''It's
disgraceful for anyone to try and disrupt a funeral,''
Sebelius said during a statehouse ceremony. ''It is
unfortunate this reprehensible practice has been
exported to other states.''
The law says
protesters can't be within 150 feet of a funeral one hour
before, during, or two hours after the end of the service.
Violators would face up to a $1,000 fine and six
months in jail. It also makes it illegal to obstruct
any public street or sidewalk and allows family
members to sue if they feel protesters defamed the deceased.
The law will not
take effect until the Kansas supreme court or a federal
court upholds it as constitutional. Legislators added that
provision to lessen concerns that Phelps and his
followers would file a legal challenge, win, and
collect attorney fees from the state.
Shirley
Phelps-Roper, the church's attorney, called the new law
''absolutely worthless.''
''We are always
more than 300 feet from the funeral site and always leave
before the funeral starts,'' said Phelps-Roper, daughter of
Fred Phelps. ''There is nothing about the law that has
anything to do with us.''
At least 32
states have enacted laws restricting funeral protests,
according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
(AP)
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