A Kansas church
that spreads its antigay message by picketing at
soldiers' funerals says it will obey new state laws that
have been passed to limit where and when such
demonstrations take place, a church attorney said
Wednesday. The Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church aborted
plans to demonstrate at soldiers' funerals in
Oklahoma, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin this past
week. All four states have passed new laws limiting
such protests.
"We're not going to get arrested. We obey the
law," said Shirley Phelps-Roper, attorney for
the church and also daughter of the church's
notoriously antigay pastor, Fred Phelps. "We're waiting
until all the [legislative sessions] are over to see what
tattered shreds they've left the Constitution in."
Phelps-Roper said the group may still show up on
the day of soldiers' funerals in those states with new
laws but will follow the restrictions on when and
where it can picket.
The author of Oklahoma's legislation, Democratic
senator Mary Easley, said, "I think they know that we
would have law enforcement people present and they
would be arrested or other appropriate action would be
taken against them."
The group is considering mounting legal
challenges to the new laws, which Phelps-Roper said
has drawn attention to the church and helped it spread
its antigay message. At least 17 states have reacted to
Phelps's picketing of funerals by introducing
legislation this year restricting such activities.
"We're thanking them kindly," she said. "They
drew a huge amount of attention to our message, and
that's all we're doing is delivering a message."
The church has outraged mourners across the
nation by showing up outside soldiers' funerals with
signs that read "God Hates Fags" or "God Made IEDs," a
reference to roadside bombs. The group's message is
that soldiers are being struck down by God because they're
fighting for a nation that tolerates homosexuality.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, sheriff's deputies,
and police kept watch Tuesday over a Guymon church
during the funeral of Army specialist Joshua Michael
Pearce, who was killed while fighting in Iraq. Phelps's
group had threatened to challenge the law, which was
hastily signed into law Friday by Gov. Brad Henry.
Oklahoma's law bans protests for an hour before
and after a funeral service and keeps picketers at
least 500 feet away from a church or cemetery where
the funeral is being held. Missouri and Wisconsin approved
similar laws, and Indiana's law makes disorderly conduct
within 500 feet of a funeral a felony punishable by
fines and prison time.
Phelps-Roper called the officials who have
passed these laws "legislative Talibans" and said the
church won $170,000 in legal fees when it successfully
challenged a Kansas funeral protest law nearly a
decade ago.
"We don't get up in anyone's face," Phelps-Roper
said. "We deliver a message exactly as the drafters of
the First Amendment intended."
About 60 of the Westboro Baptist Church's 75
members travel the country to picket military
funerals. A group of motorcyclists that call
themselves the Patriot Guard Riders are often on hand to
shield the families of dead soldiers from the
protesters, overshadowing the antigay pickets with
patriotic chants and a sea of red, white, and blue flags.
(AP)
