SamanthaJane13
Demon Pazuzu/B!tchGoddess
'Atrocity beyond a tragedy'
Updated: March 9, 2011, 2:36 PM
The soldiers and Marines die half a world away, and when their bodies return, the members of Westboro Baptist Church have a habit of showing up with signs of hate and contempt:
"Thank God for dead soldiers."
"God Hates USA/Thank God for 9/11."
"You're Going to Hell."
The U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled that as repugnant and insensitive as those people and their signs are, they have that right.
Many of the mothers and fathers of local service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan say they understand the court's reasoning, but they question whether the right to free speech is being abused.
"Being a mother of a fallen hero, of a man who had died for his country with true valor, I wouldn't allow people to get away with this lowly behavior," said Susan Price, whose 30-year-old son, Marine Gunnery Sgt. Aaron M. Kenefick, was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. "It's an atrocity beyond a tragedy."
As Gene Swanson last month prepared to bury his 21-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron M. Swanson, he said his grief was compounded with fear that the Westboro protesters from Topeka, Kan., would disrupt the funeral in Jamestown.
"I was worried that they would come to my son's funeral," he said. "It was all over the Internet that they were coming."
The protesters failed to show. "I was very relieved," Swanson said.
The father, now filled with anger over the court ruling, says a law is needed to keep the fundamentalist church members a reasonable distance away from mourners.
But the Westboro church members have been in Western New York before to spread their message that God hates America for its tolerance toward homosexuality.
They came here after the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center and protested outside some of the funeral services.
When they did, human shields of counterprotesters -- some wearing angel wings -- blocked them from the sight of grieving families.
"The greatest thing we can continue to do is show up and block them with silent protests. We surround them with signs and eight-foot-tall angel wings. We surround silently," said Kitty Lambert, president of OUTspoken for Equality, a local gay rights advocacy group, which organized the counterprotests in Buffalo and Clarence Center.
And yet despite all of the pain and anger the church members cause, their opponents understand why the high court ruled as it did.
"As heinous as their behaviors are, I think the Supreme Court ruled correctly. It is the price of democracy and goes along with the territory," said the Rev. Randy Milleville, pastor of Clarence Center's Zion Lutheran Church, one of the sites targeted by the protesters in February 2009.
Buffalo attorney Paul J. Cambria, who specializes in First Amendment cases, explained that the U.S. Supreme Court based its decision on the precedent set in a previous ruling dating to 1988, when justices overturned a libel verdict favoring the Rev. Jerry Falwell against Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt.
"That decision basically said you can't stifle free speech because it hurts an individual's feelings," Cambria said. "The idea of the First Amendment is to provoke dialogue, speech and the exchange of ideas."
The court ruling last Wednesday went against Albert Snyder, who sued the Westboro church members for the emotional pain they caused him with their hate-filled protests at his son's 2006 funeral in Maryland.
For Snyder and many more, the decision is hard to stomach.
Susan Price moved to Tampa, Fla., several years ago to be near her son, Aaron Kenefick, when he was working at the military's Central Command.
She now returns to Buffalo every couple of months to visit her son's grave.
Price says it is a good thing that Westboro church members did not intrude on her son's funeral.
"These criminals are finding ways to hurt and harass the people who make America what it truly is," she said. "Thank God they don't live near me. I'm a mother that you do not want to reckon with. That's all I have to say."
Another Gold Star mother suggested that before the Westboro church members head out to more funerals, they try defending the country.
"Let them go to war and find out what it is, instead of making signs saying your son, daughter, wife, husband, whatever, deserved to die," said Susan World Missana, the Amherst mother of Marine Sgt. Frank J.A. World, a 25-year-old Buffalo native who died a year ago in Afghanistan.
Offering a contrasting view was Lori Rivera, the stepmother of Marine Lance Cpl. Timothy "Win" Serwinowski, 21, of North Tonawanda, who also died last year in Afghanistan.
"I think that they should be allowed to protest, but not close to where the funerals are. They should be a far enough distance so that it does not affect anyone at the funeral," Rivera said.
Why?
"We live in a free country, and I strongly believe in free speech," she said.
Luke Swanson, 23, older brother of Aaron Swanson, the Lakewood Marine who died Feb. 7 in Afghanistan, says that he, too, supports the First Amendment but that at a certain point, that right can be used in an abusive way.
"I'm very liberal. Freedom of speech is fantastic," he said, "but when you do harm in a physical or emotional way, it is uncalled for and sad."
If he ever encountered the church members, he said, he would exercise his right to free speech in a different kind of way by saying nothing.
"If I saw them, I would turn around and walk away. I would be the bigger person."
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article361942.ece
Updated: March 9, 2011, 2:36 PM
The soldiers and Marines die half a world away, and when their bodies return, the members of Westboro Baptist Church have a habit of showing up with signs of hate and contempt:
"Thank God for dead soldiers."
"God Hates USA/Thank God for 9/11."
"You're Going to Hell."
The U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled that as repugnant and insensitive as those people and their signs are, they have that right.
Many of the mothers and fathers of local service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan say they understand the court's reasoning, but they question whether the right to free speech is being abused.
"Being a mother of a fallen hero, of a man who had died for his country with true valor, I wouldn't allow people to get away with this lowly behavior," said Susan Price, whose 30-year-old son, Marine Gunnery Sgt. Aaron M. Kenefick, was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. "It's an atrocity beyond a tragedy."
As Gene Swanson last month prepared to bury his 21-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron M. Swanson, he said his grief was compounded with fear that the Westboro protesters from Topeka, Kan., would disrupt the funeral in Jamestown.
"I was worried that they would come to my son's funeral," he said. "It was all over the Internet that they were coming."
The protesters failed to show. "I was very relieved," Swanson said.
The father, now filled with anger over the court ruling, says a law is needed to keep the fundamentalist church members a reasonable distance away from mourners.
But the Westboro church members have been in Western New York before to spread their message that God hates America for its tolerance toward homosexuality.
They came here after the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center and protested outside some of the funeral services.
When they did, human shields of counterprotesters -- some wearing angel wings -- blocked them from the sight of grieving families.
"The greatest thing we can continue to do is show up and block them with silent protests. We surround them with signs and eight-foot-tall angel wings. We surround silently," said Kitty Lambert, president of OUTspoken for Equality, a local gay rights advocacy group, which organized the counterprotests in Buffalo and Clarence Center.
And yet despite all of the pain and anger the church members cause, their opponents understand why the high court ruled as it did.
"As heinous as their behaviors are, I think the Supreme Court ruled correctly. It is the price of democracy and goes along with the territory," said the Rev. Randy Milleville, pastor of Clarence Center's Zion Lutheran Church, one of the sites targeted by the protesters in February 2009.
Buffalo attorney Paul J. Cambria, who specializes in First Amendment cases, explained that the U.S. Supreme Court based its decision on the precedent set in a previous ruling dating to 1988, when justices overturned a libel verdict favoring the Rev. Jerry Falwell against Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt.
"That decision basically said you can't stifle free speech because it hurts an individual's feelings," Cambria said. "The idea of the First Amendment is to provoke dialogue, speech and the exchange of ideas."
The court ruling last Wednesday went against Albert Snyder, who sued the Westboro church members for the emotional pain they caused him with their hate-filled protests at his son's 2006 funeral in Maryland.
For Snyder and many more, the decision is hard to stomach.
Susan Price moved to Tampa, Fla., several years ago to be near her son, Aaron Kenefick, when he was working at the military's Central Command.
She now returns to Buffalo every couple of months to visit her son's grave.
Price says it is a good thing that Westboro church members did not intrude on her son's funeral.
"These criminals are finding ways to hurt and harass the people who make America what it truly is," she said. "Thank God they don't live near me. I'm a mother that you do not want to reckon with. That's all I have to say."
Another Gold Star mother suggested that before the Westboro church members head out to more funerals, they try defending the country.
"Let them go to war and find out what it is, instead of making signs saying your son, daughter, wife, husband, whatever, deserved to die," said Susan World Missana, the Amherst mother of Marine Sgt. Frank J.A. World, a 25-year-old Buffalo native who died a year ago in Afghanistan.
Offering a contrasting view was Lori Rivera, the stepmother of Marine Lance Cpl. Timothy "Win" Serwinowski, 21, of North Tonawanda, who also died last year in Afghanistan.
"I think that they should be allowed to protest, but not close to where the funerals are. They should be a far enough distance so that it does not affect anyone at the funeral," Rivera said.
Why?
"We live in a free country, and I strongly believe in free speech," she said.
Luke Swanson, 23, older brother of Aaron Swanson, the Lakewood Marine who died Feb. 7 in Afghanistan, says that he, too, supports the First Amendment but that at a certain point, that right can be used in an abusive way.
"I'm very liberal. Freedom of speech is fantastic," he said, "but when you do harm in a physical or emotional way, it is uncalled for and sad."
If he ever encountered the church members, he said, he would exercise his right to free speech in a different kind of way by saying nothing.
"If I saw them, I would turn around and walk away. I would be the bigger person."
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article361942.ece
But DAMN, if only...
