New York, USA - Anti-gay protests by a small religious group at funerals for troops killed in Iraq have prompted more than a dozen states to move to restrict picketing at funerals.
The rare action focused on a single person, the Rev. Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, has raised concerns about how to balance protesters' First Amendment rights and mourners' rights to be shielded from offensive messages.
Governors in South Dakota and Wisconsin signed laws this month restricting funeral protests. At least 13 states are considering such laws, plus Kansas may expand its existing ban.
Westboro Baptist members picket military funerals, holding signs with such messages as "Thank God for IEDs" and "God Hates Fag Enablers." They say God is punishing America for tolerating gays.
The Wisconsin law bans protests within 500 feet of a funeral before, during and after the service.
Gov. Jim Doyle says Phelps and his followers "have a constitutional right to state their opinion, as totally bizarre as this one is. But the families have a right to a time in which they can grieve and express their admiration and respect for these fallen soldiers."
David Hudson, an attorney at the First Amendment Center, says a key issue is whether family privacy is a compelling reason to restrict speech. "The courts are obviously going to have to sort this out," he says.
Edwin Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union in Illinois, says a proposal there that limits the time and distance of funeral protests is too broad.
The limit could be applied to somebody picketing the appearance of a public official at the service or somebody protesting on another issue, he says.
Phelps, 76, a law school graduate, vows to challenge the laws in court and says he'll win. He says a 90-foot limit is reasonable, but he would sue over anything farther.
"We're going to get rich off the stuff they're doing," he says. "This is finger-lickin' good."
Westboro Baptist Church has about 100 members, he says, many from his family of 13 children. His church gained notoriety in the 1990s by picketing the funerals of people who died from AIDS.
Phelps makes no apologies.
He says IEDs, the abbreviation for the improvised explosive devices that have proved deadly to U.S. troops, are God's way of punishing America.
"It's God's wrath," he says. "It is a direct, immediate stroke on a depraved nation."