House set to ban funeral demonstrations
The House of Representatives is expected to overwhelmingly pass a bill Tuesday that prohibits demonstrators from interfering with military funerals at national cemeteries.
Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, said it is a sad commentary on American life that such a bill is needed, but anti-war protesters — members of a Kansas church with an anti-gay message and a variety of copycats — have made it necessary for Congress to draw a line between freedom of speech and “the right to grieve.”
Under the so-called Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act, demonstrations or protests at national cemeteries could be a Class A federal misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, Buyer said.
The bill prohibits any demonstration at Arlington National Cemetery or any other national cemetery without advance permission from the cemetery superintendent or director, or within 500 feet or 60 minutes before and after a funeral or memorial service. Also barred would be any protest that interferes with the funeral.
Several states already have passed similar bans after a Baptist church in Kansas began a series of protests at military funerals where church members claimed the combat deaths were somehow linked to the nation being accepting of homosexual lifestyles. The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka led by Rev. Fred Phelps held several of these protests, which included direct confrontations with people attending the military funerals.
Buyer said there also have been some anti-war protesters and he now suspects that copycats are involved in telephone calls to surviving family members along with the egging and trashing of a family home in Indiana.
“As a society, we should set the standards of dignity,” Buyer said Monday in an interview, noting Supreme Court rulings have allow reasonable limits on free-speech rights.
Buyer said he had no doubt the bill, HR 5037, would pass, but added he may ask for a recorded vote just to see if any members of the House who oppose U.S. military operations in Iraq would vote against the measure.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., is the bill’s original sponsor. There are 174 co-sponsors, including Buyer. It takes a minimum of 218 votes for a bill to pass the House if everyone is voting.
“There has to be a sense of decency,” Rogers said in a statement. “America has a responsibility to ensure that the families of our fallen heroes can grieve in peace and with dignity.”
House set to ban funeral demonstrations
Posted - May 09 2006 : 12:48:15
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