Sad face for stupid people!

[Kiid]

BBC News - US Supreme Court allows anti-gay funeral protests

[Wintereis]

We have covered this already in another thread.

[Ultra]

Well it's okay to bring it up in a new thread. But hey ya know, it's freedom of speech... they're allowed to do it. I don't like it, but hey what can ya do?

[Kiid]

Got to there church and protest god. Church is a public place!

[Ultra]

Freedom of speech is a double-edged sword. If you want the right to say what you think, other people have the right to do the same, even if they are incredibly nasty and horrible.

Yeah, I'm quoting some guy from another forum.

[stu]

Demostrations at funerals go beyond what should be allowed under freedom to demonstrate. You would have to be sick fucker to do it.

[Beaux]

Free speech has never been considered an absolute right. The Snyder family won their case against Westboro Baptist group because they deliberately targeted the Snyder family for public humiliation. Courts ruled they were not public figures and therefore had the same right to privacy as every other American. For example Boy Scouts are not allowed to picket wedding of their favorite scoutmaster. A wedding is a private family event and boy scouts cannot disrupt.
In Snyder case all 47 states who filed briefs agreed with Snyder family, a family funeral cannot be reduced to a vicious public spectacle by anyone. No one, and I mean no one, expected the Snyder family to lose in Supreme Court.
Suddenly Justices Thomas and Scalia turned this into a First Amendment case. Westboro lost because they had intentionally inflicted emotional harm on Snyder family. Even right wingers on Fox, Glen Beck, O'Reilly and Hannity were shocked by Court ruling 8 to 1 on grounds of free speech. No one ever suggested Westboro didn't have free speech. Family sued for punitive damages for hurt inflicted on every member of Snyder family.
This case was and remains incomprehensible. One commentator quipped that Scalia and Thomas sure don't like gay men!!!!
Every gay guy had better not believe you have any secure rights in USA. We have never as of yet won a court battle. Virtually every homosexual act is illegal in most states, They don't often prosecute us these days. We are still legally considered criminals everywhere in America.
If you believe everything is swell, hunky dory, and you still wait for the tooth fairy, great. All gay men are safe. If the mood in America turns ugly all they have to do is enforce current laws against us
HOW SWELL THEY WON'T HAVE ANY NASTY LEGISLATIVE BATTLES AGAINST GAYS.

Sodomy laws in the United States were largely a matter of state rather than federal jurisdiction, except for laws governing the U.S. Armed Forces. By 2002, 36 states had repealed all sodomy laws or had them overturned by court rulings. The remaining sodomy laws were invalidated by the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas.

What laws aginst being gay are you refering to? The sodomy laws have been invalidated for years.

[Beaux]

Lots of states are defying federal statutes right now. Most notably Arizona.
If state governments feel like ignoring that Texas ruling who is going to stop them. Unless we can field a gay army to defend ourselves any crack pot politician simply has to stick his finger in the air and say "Can I get away with it?" If people in New Jersey become homophobic who protects me?
Don't tell me that Supreme Court, Congress or Obama will protect me. I'm 65. Politicians only protect themselves. Gays are on our own. In 1932 the two most dominant groups in Germany were Jews and homosexuals. Thirteen years later neither group existed. They thought Germany was a civilized country. I hope America is a civilized country. If America goes bankrupt or stock market collapses Americans will find someone to blame. Lots and lots of Americans think God is angry with us because of our immoral lifestyles. Westboro Baptist church is admired by many Roman Catholic evangelical groups. Mormons have never admitted or denounced what happened at "mountain meadows".. God protects those who protect themselves.

life is often cruel, stupid and hideous.

Yes you are 65, and (no disrespect intended) you seem rather bitter. I am only 39 but I was spent my teenage years in the buckle of the bible belt, Louisiana. I didnt have a computer, I didnt know that there were other gay people besides myself. In my life time I have seen the advent of gay only television stations. I have visited totally gay communities (like the gay village in Dallas, off Lemmon street), I have seen LGBT support groups start in colleges across the nation. I have seen progress. For every two steps forward, yes, there is a step back wards, but we make progress. We move forward. I bet when you were my age you sure as hell couldnt go out to the movies in Shreveport LA (or Dallas for that matter) and hold your boyfriends hand. I can not only do that, I can go to a major cenima and see a movie about gay men and women that arent portrayed as comical or pathetic.
I agree that the world and the people in it can be cruel, but I stand firmly in my belief, nay my knowledge, that we have come a long long way since you were a young man.
We arent done yet.

On a side note: I have a question. Are you Out?

[fredv3b]

In 1932 the two most dominant groups in Germany were Jews and homosexuals.

More powerful than Catholics, Trade Unions, Communists and the Prussian Aristocracy? Can you name any prominent Jewish politicians of the time? Why were Jews still restricted to certain to certain trades? Why was paragraph 175 not repealed?

[Wintereis]

Every gay guy had better not believe you have any secure rights in USA. We have never as of yet won a court battle. Virtually every homosexual act is illegal in most states, They don't often prosecute us these days. We are still legally considered criminals everywhere in America.
If you believe everything is swell, hunky dory, and you still wait for the tooth fairy, great. All gay men are safe. If the mood in America turns ugly all they have to do is enforce current laws against us
HOW SWELL THEY WON'T HAVE ANY NASTY LEGISLATIVE BATTLES AGAINST GAYS.

Never won a court battle? No secure rights? Ever homosexual act is illegal in most states? Legally considered criminals? Enforce current laws against us?


. . . all of those are wrong.

Please, educate yourself on these issues. It is important to know what you are talking about if you are trying to help gay rights in this nation.