*sigh* Rights are for everyone...even you

[bluegargantua]

Hey,

So the Supreme Court in an 8-1 ruling said that the Westboro Baptist Church could protest at the funeral of dead gay soldiers (Justice Alito being the only dissenter).

I kinda expected this and I think it's clearly the right decision. I do wish the majority opinion had gone something like this though:

"We, the Supreme Court of the United States find that the plaintiffs were exercising their right to free speech in accordance with the Constitution and cannot be barred from similar demonstrations in the future simply because they say things that are painful, unpleasant, or rude. In that light, the Court would like to exercise it's right to free speech and declare the plaintiffs to be utter assholes."


later
Tom

Comments

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

As far as I can recall, the standard line the Phelpsites take isn't that the soldiers whose funerals they're protesting were gay - it's that God Hates Fags and He Kills Our Soldiers Because We, As a Society, Put Up With Same, which is admittedly a difficult leap of... er, logic... for people with normal brain function to make.

[satyrgrl.livejournal.com]

I'm certain that you're correct that their stance is that they don't believe the soldiers themselves were gay, merely "sodomite enablers." However, I think a casual observer of their signs would almost certainly draw the conclusion that they believed otherwise, and I can't imagine that is completely accidental.