Steve Jobs

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The Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket the funeral of former Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, the church said Thursday. Palo Alto police officials said the protests would be permitted.
“THANK GOD! Steve Jobs is dead! Westboro will picket his funeral!” a church blog claims, linked to from the church’s main Web site.
The blog then goes on to claim that Jobs was responsible for gay marriage, which will “bring your destruction,” it claims.
Plans to picket the Jobs funeral have not been added to the WBC’s picket page, most probably because the Jobs family has not said whether they will hold a public funeral for Jobs, let alone announced a date.
Steve Jobs died Thursday, from what was believed to be complications of pancreatic cancer. His family claimed he “died peacefully, surrounded by family. He was 56.
Sandra Brown, a spokeswoman for the Palo Alto Police Department, said that the police department had confirmed the church’s plans to picket the funeral, and would be allowed to do so. What was not known, she said, was whether or not the funeral will be held in the city. Although Jobs was a Palo Alto resident, the city has just one cemetery, the nondenominational Alta Mesa Memorial Park.
Brown said that the WBC demonstrated outside funerals held for several students who committed suicide at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto last year. “We protected them, and we gave them a location for them to protest at, because it’s a matter of free speech,” Brown said. “It was fine; nobody charged them or anything. So if they want to show up for this, it would probably be the same way.”
The WBC, established in 1955 by Pastor Fred Phelps, claims to adhere to the teachings of the Bible, preaching against “all forms of sin,” including “fornication,” “divorce and remarriage,” and “sodomy”. The church claims that it has conducted over 46,000 demonstrations since June 1991, carrying signs that denounce homosexuality.
On Thursday, fans and Apple customers paid tribute to Jobs, and Jobs was memorialized in newspapers around the world as well as by Google and the U.S. Congress.
from PC Magazine

Westboro Baptist Church

Westboro Baptist Church is at it again.
Much as it threatened to do at the funerals of Heath Ledger and Natasha Richardson, the small Kansas church — which has notoriously picketed the funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers as part of a crusade against homosexuality — is directing its rhetoric at Hollywood in threatening to protest at Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral.
“No RIP Elizabeth Taylor who spent her life in adultery and enabling proud fags. They cuss her in hell today. #Westboro will picket funeral!” tweeted Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro Baptist Church pastor Fred Phelps.
Though if the past is any guide…
They may be all (hate) talk. Despite threats, the group were apparently no-shows at Richardson’s funeral, and Ledger’s funeral in Australia was a private ceremony.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 earlier this month that the Westboro congregation was protected by the First Amendment — if not standards of human decency — when it protested at the funeral of a Marine who had died in Iraq, with some people wielding signs that read “God Hates Fags” and “America Is Doomed.”
The soldier’s father sued the congregation for sizable damages and won, but the appeals process ultimately led to the high court.
“Fred Phelps and his vitriolic anti-gay followers are simply trying to exploit their so-called ‘faith’ by spreading messages of hate at a time when Americans are grieving the loss of an extraordinary woman, actress and advocate,” GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios tells E! News.
“Overwhelmingly, communities of faith are beginning to embrace lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender congregants and sending messages that promote equality for all. GLAAD is urging media to share Elizabeth Taylor’s legacy with stories of hope and acceptance, and which highlight her life’s work to create a world in which everyone is respected and valued for who they are.”
Taylor, who died Wednesday at 79 after being in ill health for some time, was a tireless advocate for AIDS awareness and research and is revered by the gay community for her support and philanthropy.
“It’s impossible to underestimate Elizabeth Taylor’s impact on the fight against AIDS from the very beginning,” said Craig E. Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles. “We’re simply devastated by her loss.”
“Today, we’ve lost one of the boldest advocates our community has seen,” he added, “but her tremendous impact lives with us.”
The two-time Oscar winner cofounded the American Foundation of AIDS Research, or amFAR, which also paid its respects to its late “Founding International Chairman” Wednesday.
“Dame Elizabeth’s compassion, radiance, and generosity of spirit will be greatly missed by us all,” the organization said in a statement. “She leaves a monumental legacy that has improved and extended millions of lives and will enrich countless more for generations to come.”
But while there will surely be a memorial in Hollywood to commemorate the iconic star, the issue of where she’ll be laid to rest isn’t exactly set in stone. In recent years, Taylor had said that she wanted to be buried next to two-time husband Richard Burton in Wales.
Wherever the grand dame can rest in peace, we’re all for it.
from MSNBC
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Elizabeth Taylor Passes Away

Westboro Baptist Church

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that protests outside military funerals are protected by the First Amendment.
Iowa has a law that requires protesters to stay at least 500 feet back from funeral services and burials. The law was passed in April 2006 because of a planned protest by members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., at the funeral of an Ogden solider who was killed in Iraq.
Wednesday’s ruling does not make Iowa’s statute unconstitutional, said Geoff Greenwood, spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.
The office does have some concerns that the ruling could raise future free speech issues, he said, because it says “it is necessary to evaluate all the circumstances of the speech, including what was said, where it was said, and how it was said.” A future case could be a closer call on the First Amendment depending on what someone said and how they said it, Greenwood said.
He said the state signed onto a brief in the case supporting a father who sued church members who protested at the funeral of his son, a Marine.
The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church. Members of that church have protested at hundreds of military funerals, carrying signs with provocative messages like “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” according to the Associated Press.
Several Westboro members protested outside City High School in October 2006 during the funeral of Sgt. Kampha Sourivong, 20, who was killed in Iraq. Church members also picketed the 2004 City High graduation when a student received a scholarship from a foundation honoring Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was beaten to death in Wyoming.
Patty Sourivong, Kampha’s mother, said Thursday that she disagreed with the ruling. She also criticized the Westboro members, saying their right to free speech was being protected by soldier’s like her son who “gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
“They wouldn’t like it if it was their kid dying and we were out there with a sign protesting,” she said.
from Eastern Iowa Government
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Supreme Court Allows Military Funeral Anti-Gay Protests

Westboro Baptist Church

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects fundamentalist church members who mount anti-gay protests outside military funerals, despite the pain they cause grieving families.
The court voted 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. The decision upheld an appeals court ruling that threw out a $5 million judgment to the father of a dead Marine who sued church members after they picketed his son’s funeral.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the court. Justice Samuel Alito dissented.
Roberts said free speech rights in the First Amendment shield the funeral protesters, noting that they obeyed police directions and were 1,000 feet from the church.
“Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and – as it did here – inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker,” Roberts said. “As a nation we have chosen a different course – to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”
Alito strongly disagreed. “Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case,” he said.
Matthew Snyder died in Iraq in 2006 and his body was returned to the United States for burial. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who have picketed military funerals for several years, decided to protest outside the Westminster, Md., church where his funeral was to be held.
The Rev. Fred Phelps and his family members who make up most of the Westboro Baptist Church have picketed many military funerals in their quest to draw attention to their incendiary view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God’s punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.
They showed up with their usual signs, including “Thank God for dead soldiers,” “You’re Going to Hell,” “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” and one that combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto, Semper Fi, with a slur against gay men.
The church members drew counter-demonstrators, as well as media coverage and a heavy police presence to maintain order. The result was a spectacle that led to altering the route of the funeral procession.
Several weeks later, Albert Snyder was surfing the Internet for tributes to his son from other soldiers and strangers when he came upon a poem on the church’s website that attacked Matthew’s parents for the way they brought up their son.
Soon after, Snyder filed a lawsuit accusing the Phelpses of intentionally inflicting emotional distress. He won $11 million at trial, later reduced by a judge to $5 million.
The federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., threw out the verdict and said the Constitution shielded the church members from liability.
Forty-eight states, 42 U.S. senators and veterans groups sided with Snyder, asking the court to shield funerals from the Phelps family’s “psychological terrorism.”
While distancing themselves from the church’s message, media organizations, including The Associated Press, urged the court to side with the Phelps family because of concerns that a victory for Snyder could erode speech rights.
Roberts described the court’s holding as narrow, and in a separate opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer suggested in other circumstances, governments would not be “powerless to provide private individuals with necessary protection.”
But in this case, Breyer said, it would be wrong to “punish Westboro for seeking to communicate its views on matters of public concern.”
Margie Phelps, a daughter of the minister and a lawyer who argued the case at the Supreme Court, said she expected the outcome. “The only surprise is that Justice Alito did not feel compelled to follow his oath,” Phelps said. “We read the law. We follow the law. The only way for a different ruling is to shred the First Amendment.”
She also offered her church’s view of the decision. “I think it’s pretty self-explanatory, but here’s the core point: The wrath of God is pouring onto this land. Rather than trying to shut us up, use your platforms to tell this nation to mourn for your sins.”
from The Associated Press
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