There are actual legal and scientific standards to establish that someone is being abused and is suffering an actual harm. I don’t think you can establish that having to put up with a Phelps lunatic on a single occasion causes that kind of harm. And, as I said, funerals can be held on private property, and thus the Phelpses are largely avoidable.
That’s exactly what a “free speech zone” is.
I would think at the very LEAST, you’d get majorly disciplined, and if you cnose not to stop, they’d fire your sorry ass.
The manner of that occasion is significant here, don’t you agree? Certainly the legislatures in question do - they have determined that protests are less odious before or after the funeral and not during it.
I can live with that.
Many cemeteries are not private property, and funeral processions must use public streets. Are these people out of luck because they happen to stray from areas where they have a modicum of protection? Or can the law act to afford them a reasonable accommodation as well?
We are abdicating our responsibility if we throw up our hands here and say there is nothing we can do. The law is quite clear that there is a difference between the overall public sphere and times and places fit for public expression. Since this is so, the crafting of laws managing this is not only permissible, but necessary and responsible.
I have said in the past that I’m uncomfortable with free speech zones, but I can see why they were instituted in the first place - I’ve both demonstrated against politicians and have had these sorts of protests interfered with. And I can see the difference between bad law and unconstitutional law. Frankly, though, here the law is pretty good - it is narrowly crafted and content neutral. And it is constitutional.
I sincerely disagree with you. I think we have a number of members who enjoy hurting others.
You can know that, though, if I were to post (given the broader context of this thread), “My dad died today.” I think I did post something like that when my dad died. I’m not certain.
Going to funerals is voluntary, too. I know. I haven’t been to one since my father’s and don’t intend to go to another with the possible exception of my mother’s. And if I knew that trolls and troglodytes would be there (well, more than my immediate family), I would have even more impetus to skip it.
There WAS such a site about me, years ago. Well, they filled in the insulting expletives. 
I agree.
gasp How did you know?
I don’t know what the legality of this is. I don’t think it should be illegal. It’s unethical in every situation I can think of.
Agreed.
Sure, but we don’t always get to have appealing options (I originally wrote “appalling” options, which was a funny typo, but I fixed it to avoid confusion and then mention it anyway because confusion is apparently joyous).
I can complain to my boss, but essentially yeah.
Certainly words can have more lasting damage than a fist in some cases. But generally speaking I’d say that for words to matter that much they have to be uttered by someone who matters–not by a freaky little man with a freaky little religion who has the biggest gay fetish imaginable outside of the RNC (heck, maybe inside the RNC! He’s pretty damned freaky).
I don’t disagree at all that Phelps is a monster. I don’t. But he’s a monster who thrives on the degradation of our humanity, our ethics, our rights, our souls if you swing that way. He wants to harm us. He wants to drive us to cultural suicide.
I’m sorry, I’m not getting this. No one can hear them at their church, in front of the mall, on their web site, when they’re on TV, if they print a newsletter? No one is suggesting limiting their ability to do any of those things.
No…it’s not private property. If Phelps protested on private property, he’d be arrested. I’ve neve heard it stated that he was anywhere other than on the sidewalk out front, or across the street. In fact, I can’t imagine a funeral home director or anyone else allowing the Phelps clan on the property at all. There may be some exceptions to this, and I’m sure if there was a way to have him removed from the scene, the grievers and police would take advantage of it.
I agree…if they’re breaking the law, they should be arrested. However, as much of an asshole as he is, Phelps isn’t stupid. He uses the law to promote his agenda. Most of his protests follow the rules that are laid out. That’s why they’re inventing grief laws to silence him!
A former poster here once started a Pit thread about a woman she knew. This poor lady was the young, pregnant widow of a serviceman. The Phelps were going to go to California to picket his funeral
They didn’t actually show, but somehow managed to get the widow on the phone and told her how her husband was in Hell. That’s what the poster was incandescent about.
Only speech, they were never in the young woman’s presence, but I don’t think they had the right to act as they did.