New Jersey moves to
join other states
barring funeral
protests
By TOM HESTER Jr.. AP
from Newsday.com on the Web, May 13, 2006
TRENTON, N.J. May 12 -- New
Jersey may join 11 other states that have restricted protests during funerals as
lawmakers hope to keep at bay a Kansas minister and his followers who have
picketed the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in combat.
The group claims the deaths are God's vengeance against American homosexuality.
While it hasn't protested a funeral in New Jersey, a spokeswoman for the Rev.
Fred Phelps on Friday said it's been eying a visit to the Garden State.
Assemblyman Jack Conners, sponsor of one of two bills that would restrict
funeral demonstrations in New Jersey, said he wants the bills to clear committee
on Monday, jump-starting a quick journey into law so the state is ready.
"I'm trying to be respectful of everybody, but what they're doing is just
outrageous," said Conners, a Burlington County Democrat and chairman of an
Assembly veterans committee. "It boggles the mind. I'll never be
able to figure this one out."
Conners said he hopes for quick approvals, but Gov. Jon S. Corzine's
administration was cautious.
"Any attempt to deal with this issue must strike a balance between showing
proper respect for the soldiers and families who have made the supreme sacrifice
for their country and protecting the very rights those soldiers have died
defending," Corzine spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said.
Shirley Phelps-Roeper, Phelps' daughter and the attorney for his church, decried
the bills and New Jersey legislators.
"They're no different than the Taliban in Afghanistan," she said in comments
peppered with Biblical references and anti-gay remarks.
She noted how the group has been mulling how New Jersey elected James E.
McGreevey, who announced he was gay after he was elected governor and resigned
shortly thereafter amid scandal.
"I've been thinking it's time for us to get to a funeral in New Jersey," Phelps-Roeper
said.
Phelps' group's Web site advertised pickets for Saturday at funerals for two
Indiana soldiers.
The site lists protests in 19 states and Washington, D.C. They've carried
signs saying "God Hates You" and "Thank God for IEDs." IEDs are improvised
explosive devices that have killed many military members in Iraq.
"This is clearly something that is just irritating everyone and is just clearly
wrong, clearly, clearly wrong," Conners said.
The lawmaker said the risk of provoking the group is outweighed by the need to
be ready should they visit.
"The greater good is served by being prepared," Conners said.
Though counts vary because soldiers often live in many places, state military
officials consider 54 New Jerseyans to have died in Iraq. The Defense Department
lists 43 New Jerseyans.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 31 states have
considered restricting funeral protests. Eleven have enacted them, though
the American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the Kentucky law. The
U.S. House of Representatives passed a law restricting funeral protests at
federal cemeteries, but the U.S. Senate hasn't considered the bill.
The New Jersey bills would make it a disorderly persons offense to disrupt any
funeral in any cemetery in New Jersey. One bill would require protests to
stay 500 feet away. The other would impose a 300-foot barrier.
"For some words on some signs and people standing on a public street, they're
going to dismantle the First Amendment," Phelps-Roeper said.
Calls to New Jersey's ACLU chapter weren't immediately returned Friday, but
Conners said he would welcome an ACLU challenge.
"Let them," Conners said. "Let them. This is too important. We
cannot let this kind of thing happen."
Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-Mercer and Middlesex counties, an attorney and
another bill sponsor, acknowledged free speech and assembly concerns, but said
reasonable restrictions could be imposed to protect public safety.
"We are certainly right to make sure these people have a proper day after what
they've given to the country," Greenstein said.
In response to the protests, the motorcycle group Patriot Guard Riders has
attended service member funerals to provide protection to family members.
The group has a New Jersey chapter, but its leader couldn't immediately be
reached for comment on Friday.
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