Kurtz
10-27-2007, 06:33 PM
Baltimore, Maryland) In what is believed to be the first civil lawsuit against the Rev. Fred Phelps' church over an anti-gay protest at the funeral of someone from the military killed in Iraq, the father of the dead Marine said the demonstration made him sick to his stomach and gave him nightmares.
Albert Snyder is suing Phelps and his Topeka, Kan.-based church after church members demonstrated at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder last year in Maryland, and then posted pictures of the protest on their Web site.
Cpl. Snyder was killed in March, 2006.
Snyder's lawsuit alleges church members violated the family's right to privacy and defamed the Marine and his family at the funeral and on the church's Web site.
"They turned this funeral into a media circus and they wanted to hurt my family," Albert Snyder testified.
"They wanted their message heard and they didn't care who they stepped over. My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside."
Westboro Baptist has 70 members, made up mostly of Phelps' relatives. Although it professes to be Baptist it is not affiliated with any national Baptist group.
Westboro operates Web sites including GodHatesFags and GodHatesAmerica and has been described as a cult.
Phelps and the church first came to national attention when he organized a protest by his followers outside the 1998 funeral for Matthew Shepherd, the gay college student who was beaten to death in Wyoming. The killing, Phelps' protest, and the reaction of townsfolk led to the play "The Laramie Project."
Church members routinely demonstrate at the funerals of AIDS victims and most recently at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq.
Westboro Baptist's picketing of soldiers' funerals led Congress and 34 states to enact laws attempting to restrict such protests.
Snyder is seeking unspecified monetary damages in the lawsuit.
On the witness stand he was asked about signs carried by some of the protestors that said "Thank God for dead soldiers."
"I see that sign when I lay in bed," Snyder told the court.
The church's web site said that Matthew Snyder was raised to support the "Roman Catholic monstrosity" and then sent to fight for the "United States of Sodomy."
"They have no right to do this to people they didn't know," Snyder testified.
He also told the court that he was concerned by the children involved in the protest.
"I pray for their children. Their children need help. To be brought up with that kind of hatred," Snyder said.
Under cross examination from Westboro's attorney, Snyder acknowledged that the protestors were about 1,000 feet away from the church where the funeral was taking place.
Phelps followed Snyder on the stand and said that he uses the term "fag" because "it comes from scripture" but added that he could also have used Sodomite or dog.
At the beginning of the trial U.S. District court judge Richard Bennett instructed jurors the First Amendment protection of free speech has limits.
"[You must decide] whether the defendant's actions would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, whether they were extreme and outrageous, and whether these actions were so offensive and shocking as to not be entitled to First Amendment protection," he told the jury.
Phelps Sick (http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/10/102607phelps.htm)
:twitch
Albert Snyder is suing Phelps and his Topeka, Kan.-based church after church members demonstrated at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder last year in Maryland, and then posted pictures of the protest on their Web site.
Cpl. Snyder was killed in March, 2006.
Snyder's lawsuit alleges church members violated the family's right to privacy and defamed the Marine and his family at the funeral and on the church's Web site.
"They turned this funeral into a media circus and they wanted to hurt my family," Albert Snyder testified.
"They wanted their message heard and they didn't care who they stepped over. My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside."
Westboro Baptist has 70 members, made up mostly of Phelps' relatives. Although it professes to be Baptist it is not affiliated with any national Baptist group.
Westboro operates Web sites including GodHatesFags and GodHatesAmerica and has been described as a cult.
Phelps and the church first came to national attention when he organized a protest by his followers outside the 1998 funeral for Matthew Shepherd, the gay college student who was beaten to death in Wyoming. The killing, Phelps' protest, and the reaction of townsfolk led to the play "The Laramie Project."
Church members routinely demonstrate at the funerals of AIDS victims and most recently at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq.
Westboro Baptist's picketing of soldiers' funerals led Congress and 34 states to enact laws attempting to restrict such protests.
Snyder is seeking unspecified monetary damages in the lawsuit.
On the witness stand he was asked about signs carried by some of the protestors that said "Thank God for dead soldiers."
"I see that sign when I lay in bed," Snyder told the court.
The church's web site said that Matthew Snyder was raised to support the "Roman Catholic monstrosity" and then sent to fight for the "United States of Sodomy."
"They have no right to do this to people they didn't know," Snyder testified.
He also told the court that he was concerned by the children involved in the protest.
"I pray for their children. Their children need help. To be brought up with that kind of hatred," Snyder said.
Under cross examination from Westboro's attorney, Snyder acknowledged that the protestors were about 1,000 feet away from the church where the funeral was taking place.
Phelps followed Snyder on the stand and said that he uses the term "fag" because "it comes from scripture" but added that he could also have used Sodomite or dog.
At the beginning of the trial U.S. District court judge Richard Bennett instructed jurors the First Amendment protection of free speech has limits.
"[You must decide] whether the defendant's actions would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, whether they were extreme and outrageous, and whether these actions were so offensive and shocking as to not be entitled to First Amendment protection," he told the jury.
Phelps Sick (http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/10/102607phelps.htm)
:twitch