Do they not still have a right to free speech?

Not hate speech.

I dont agree with their tactics at all but they did get the permit. I view it as disrupting a funeral. I think they should reconsider allowing the permit.

I kinda' gotta' agree.
If yer gonna' do vigilantism, ya' may as well join Nation of Islam or the Klan.

It all comes down to lack of manners. Its usually the radical anti-gay who actually ARE gay but are too scared to come out. If the stupid media (left AND right) would stop reporting on them they'd probably just go away. Typical human hypocrisy they are. Then again they ARE from Kansas, is there even anything IN Kansas? They're just ill-mannered idiots, nothing more. Nothing to do with politics, just a group of bored morons.

Why don't you look up what they did at the Brianna Dennison memorial. It was taken way to far and some of them almost got hurt really bad.

Not vigilantism if you have witnesses who can back up a self defense claim.

Have you met any of those guys? They get right in your face, close enough to be in your space where the law says you can defend youself, At least here in Nevada.

The southern poverty law center succcccccccks. They do not get my sympathy.

They are encouraging violence with their hate speech.

BTW they didn't need a permit to protest at the memorial of the poor Reno girl who was brutally raped and murdered and tossed in a field like trash. THey showed up anyways.

If I could of got off work early enough they would have had a couple of very hurt protesters.

I was really close to this situation, her aunt and cousin both worked with me at one of my stores I covered and was friends with both of them. I spent my off time out searching for her and the company I worked for even paid employees to go out and search. So I kinda took it to heart.

I think that is why they wouldn't give me the time off to go to the memorial cause us Loss Prevention boys woulda put those WBC idiots in the big hurt.

I actually don't see Fred Phelps as gay but more of a child molester and someone who arranges child marriages to people within his extremply large family. They all marry eachother.

Yea they do have the right to hate speech.

It is very unclassy and disrespectful to protest at funerals but they have the right to be unclassy and disrespectful in this country.

I would not protest the protest at the funeral either that would still be unclassy to me.

No they don't, not it if infringes on the rights of others or encourages violence which all of that they do. They also don't always get the permits they need AND President Bush even signed a law where they have to be an extra so many feet from a funeral, which they constantly violate.

I DESPISE hate groups and I plan on dealing with these a$$holes the next time they come to my area to protest a brave soldier's funeral or the funeral of someone who was brutally raped, kidnapped from her friends house, murdered and dumped like garbage.

Yup, I definately have a date with these jerks.

For those of you who say the Westboro Baptist Church are a bunch of Republicans and Conservatives, check this out.

Westboro Baptist Church Pastor Fred Phelps has run in various Kansas Democratic Party primaries five times, but has never won. These included races for governor in 1990, 1994, and 1998, receiving about 15 percent of the vote in 1998. In the 1992 Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate, Phelps received 31 percent of the vote. Phelps ran for mayor of Topeka in 1993 and 1997.


Phelps supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic Party primary election. In his 1984 Senate race, Gore opposed a "gay bill of rights" and stated that homosexuality was not something that "society should affirm". Phelps has stated that he supported Gore because of these earlier comments. According to Phelps, members of the Westboro Baptist Church helped run Gore's 1988 campaign in Kansas. Phelps' son, Fred Phelps Jr., hosted a Gore fundraiser at his home in Topeka, with Gore present and was a Gore delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps#Democratic_Party

So much for him and his church being a Republican Hate group. Remember the Democrats are the party of racism and Jim Crow.

Heres another lil tidbit of information.

Saddam Hussein

In 2003, before the fall of Saddam Hussein during the Iraq War, Phelps wrote a letter to Saddam praising his regime for being, in his opinion, "the only Muslim state that allows the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be freely and openly preached on the streets."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps#Democratic_Party

On April 10, 2008, Westboro picketed the funerals of three students who were killed in a house fire at the University of Wisconsin–Stout in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Around 1,000 students showed up and drove off the protesters after fifteen minutes.

In August 2008, Westboro announced plans to protest in Winnipeg, Canada at the funeral of Tim McLean, who had been murdered on a Greyhound Canada bus. While a small number of Church members succeeded in crossing the border despite orders to prevent them from entering Canada, they did not appear at the funeral.

In February 2009, the group protested at the funeral of a plane crash victim. Students from the nearby University at Buffalo and the Buffalo area held a peaceful counter protest, holding up white sheets to shield the victim's family from the Phelpses. A motorcycle brigade, known as the Patriot Guard Riders, is known for revving its engines to drown out the Phelpses.

Westboro picketed the funeral of recording artist Michael Jackson after his death on June 25, 2009.[citation needed] Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have also recorded a song titled "God Hates the World", an adaptation of Jackson's charity single "We Are the World."

In May 2010, the group vowed to picket the funeral of heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church#Funeral_pickets

Apparently they were here in Reno a month ago protesting the funeral of a soldier. I wish I would have known about it, I would have been there and would have loved to confront Good Old Fred.