Bill
10-31-2007, 08:51 PM
Here's an interesting piece of news.
Not sure how to take this - you know this will make it to the supremes.
Is a funeral a private or public event? Interesting question.
A jury on Wednesday ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $2.9 million in compensatory damages to relatives of a U.S. Marine after church members cheered his death at his funeral.
The jury in federal court determined that the Westboro Baptist Church based in Topeka, and three of its principals, had invaded the privacy of the dead man's family and inflicted emotional distress when they protested at his funeral last year.
The soldier's death was God's punishment on America for tolerating homosexuality, the church's members said.
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder died in combat in Iraq in March 2006.
Snyder's father testified that his son was not gay, but the church targeted the military as a symbol of America's tolerance of gays.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSHUN17755620071031
Not sure how to take this - you know this will make it to the supremes.
Is a funeral a private or public event? Interesting question.
A jury on Wednesday ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $2.9 million in compensatory damages to relatives of a U.S. Marine after church members cheered his death at his funeral.
The jury in federal court determined that the Westboro Baptist Church based in Topeka, and three of its principals, had invaded the privacy of the dead man's family and inflicted emotional distress when they protested at his funeral last year.
The soldier's death was God's punishment on America for tolerating homosexuality, the church's members said.
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder died in combat in Iraq in March 2006.
Snyder's father testified that his son was not gay, but the church targeted the military as a symbol of America's tolerance of gays.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSHUN17755620071031