Fred Phelps is a red herring in this. is my opinion. Knowing that we progressives find him vile and repugnant, the politicians who want to curb speech against their own stances seem to have written this law to blur the line between protesting the activities at a church, and protesting something else, simply in the vicinity of a church.

I would think that there will be more strange bedfellows in this. Our peace center in Wichita is across the street from a church, and as sometimes a funeral could be arranged in a few days, the activities at the center are usually planned way in advance. So what would happen to us when we already would have an event planned and we find out a funeral has been scheduled for that time....

When the Bring Them Home Now tour came through after Camp Casey ended last summer, there was a man with an anti-choice cube-truck with an aborted fetus, full color, on the side panel. We were not having a protest, just a press conference; he, however, was protesting our 'sinful' peaceful ways. If there had been a funeral, it was a Wednesday, what then???

This is tricky, but I think we must stand on the side of free speech. If there is a way of joining the suit while distancing ourselves (protesters for peace) from the Phelps Kult, so much the better. I would check out this lawyer, though, and see if he/she is not just a setup. I still would pursue it but would check out the ACLU's lawyers on it.

One could see many conflicts in this concerning massive marches in NYC, LA, Chicago, DC, lots of churches, lots of funerals......