Members of the “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church are the most vile and disgusting creatures this side of dementors. And their vulgar protests (“Thank God for Dead Soldiers”) outside of funerals for fallen soldiers is a shocking affront to America’s collective conscience which hit raw nerves deeper than many of us even knew existed.
Nevertheless, by an 8-1 vote, the United States Supreme Court today correctly ruled “to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.” Or as Voltaire is credited as having put it over two centuries ago, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”
The SCOTUS decision likely kills AB 207, a similar anti-speech bill championed in Nevada by Assemblyman Lynn Stewart (R-Las Vegas) and co-sponsored by a number or conservative Republican legislators. Perhaps instead of infringing on the First Amendment, maybe Stewart should consider legislation reducing the penalty for assault on funeral protestors from a felony to a simple parking ticket.
