Funeral protests do not infringe on the freedom of speech; however, the problem is about having common courtesy and the decency to respect people's free will. It is every man or woman's free will to choose their sexuality, either to be homosexual or not. To protest the choices a person made during their life at their funeral is disrespectful to them and their families. First, they are no longer alive so what words could you say to their corpse to make their choices any different. To their families, protesting at their loved one's funeral would only make them more upset and the last thing any of them would probably even consider is that maybe they should not be homosexual.  Surely, you would not want people protesting the choices you made during your lifetime while your family and friends are the only ones who can hear them. Have the common courtesy to give their families the space and time to grieve for their losses. They took no part in the protestant's choices. 

 

As it says in the first U.S. Constitution: First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances." Therefore, funeral protests do not infringe on the freedom of speech because in the mind of the protester, they believe what is being protested to be wrong and regarded as just cause for complaint. As attorney Lili Lutgens said "…the federal court recognized that even speech that most people find distasteful is still protected by the constitution." Now when it comes to protesting at funerals, how that could possibly be the right way to protest is beyond reason. The person is dead… how can you change their mind? If you want to protest homosexuality, than go to a gay club and protest across the street. A funeral is not the place to do it.

 

In agreement, many states have introduced bills to limit protest near funerals. Some say "It is unlawful for any person to engage in picketing before or about any cemetery, church, or mortuary within one hour prior to, during and two hours following the commencement of a funeral."

Kansas is one of them. Other state's limit their laws to service funerals of troops. Here protesters claim, "Troops whom God has killed in Iraq/Afghanistan in righteous judgment against an evil nation." Displaying signs that say, "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "Soldiers die, God laughs". Parents of these deceased soldiers are horrified by these proclamations. As if a funeral is not hard enough without the hateful slogans, protestors are slandering their reputation for being brave enough to fight for our country.

 

Then, as these protesters have the right to protest, other people have the right to stand against them and rightfully so. The Patriot Guard Riders are one example. They are a group of ex veterans that get on their motorcycles, ride out to the funerals that are being protested, and bring with them large American flags, loud, respectful music, and form a wall between the protesters and the funeral.  There were also people standing against protesters for the rights of Mathew Shepard at his funeral: a young man who was brutally murdered for being homosexual. "In a counter protest, activists launched an "angel action" dressing in angel Costumes with seven foot high wings, creating an invisible barrier so that no one would have to see the hateful signs", tells Dr. Cobb, Assistant Professor of English at the

University of Toronto. Noticeably, many people feel strongly against funeral protest; weather or not they agree with homosexuals put aside, a large selection disagree with protesting funerals as it is disrespectful of Free Will.

 

The

Westboro Baptist Church is the primary people involved in funeral protesting. On their website www.godhatesfags.com they quote the bible to add evidence of their accusations, "How long O naïve ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing. And fools hate knowledge."  Proverbs 1:22. Instead, they are only contradicting themselves for it says 'scoffers delight themselves in scoffing' and is it not them the ones scoffing and mocking away at the poor families who have lost their loved ones? They say they are "opposing the homosexual lifestyle of soul damning, nation destroying filth." Nevertheless, do they not take credit for being a part of our nation? Who are they to make those judgments, unless they would like to fancy themselves Gods? In a November 30, 2008, e-mailed interview, everyday citizen Javier Bonner claims, "Funeral protesters are extremely ignorant. They are, for the most part: biased and take one side as protesting at gay funerals. Much like Hitler felt the need to kill any one that wasn't Nazi."  Speaking with many other citizens, I received similar responses preaching against Funeral Protest. If protesters learned to be more respectful of other people's rights, and to their Free Will or perhaps just stop altogether focusing on how other people live their lives and more on how they do theirs, then maybe they would have a better influence over the people. We all deserve to make our own choices, as they are only ours to make: that is our Free Will. If the Westboro Baptist Church would like to protest that the choices other people make are wrong, they are in their right to do so, but as every person deserves their choices respected on the day they leave this earth, perhaps they should reconsider where they go about their protesting.  For the Bible also states, in Romans 12:15 "When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow."