fish hawk wrote: “In a case like yours (which seems hopeless to reason) one can only say that if a loved one of yours does pass away, it would only be fair to have these idiots do what they do at your family funeral.”
It’s not hopeless to reason. I have no doubt whatsoever that I would greatly dislike having a family member’s funeral protested. I would almost certainly want Fred Phelps and his bums carted off.
Nevertheless, there’s a legal side to this as well as an emotional one. Obviously, I got on some people’s nerves, but there ARE reasonable concerns whenever we use government to restrict speech we find offensive. This isn’t something new. I remember the 70’s discussions on obscenity laws that made their way up to the SCOTUS.
If speech that causes “emotional distress” is illegal, what standards do you apply? I’m NOT talking about libel or slander, which Fred Phelps’s church clearly did not do. A sign saying, “God hates...” does not slander or libel does it?
My concern is simply that just about anything could be hateful or offensive speech to someone. I’m really hesitant to give government more power in this area, i.e. hate crimes law, because I fear it could be easily misused later on.