Today the Supreme Court will hear Albert Snyder’s case against the Westboro Baptist Church. Snyder sued the church and its leader after they staged an anti-gay demonstration at his son’s funeral in 2006.
The Westboro Baptist Church came through Brooklyn in 2009 and staged an anti-gay hate rally in front of Congregation Beth Elohim. Members of the congregation and Park Slope residents organized a counter demonstration. Here’s my report from September of 2009:
The Kansans were true to their word. They showed up at Congregation Beth Elohim sometime between 9 and 10 am on Saturday morning and picketed, as promised, the Saturday morning service.
This topped off a three-day assault on Brooklyn, which started with a brief rally at Brooklyn Tech in Fort Greene on Thursday. They also planned to picket three other Brooklyn synagogues.
Apparently Brooklyn has been targeted because the borough has the largest Jewish population int he country as well as a huge number of gay people.
Double whammy for the Kansans who believe that Jews—and homosexuals—are the devil incarnate. You can read more about this group from the Westboro Baptist Church. The name of their website says it all: www.godhatesfags.com,
Friends who were at Beth Elohim during the protest, said that the Kansans were spewing anti-Jewish slogans, singing songs, and holding anti-semitic and anti-gay signs. Rabbi Andy Bachman is said to have made an eloquent speech on the steps of the Garfield Place synagogue
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There are no “privacy rights” beyond the Fourth Amendment’s unreasonable search and seizure and not quartering troops in private homes. That idea was the figment of the imagination of an earlier Supreme Court. So it is really just a question of free speech verses disturbing the peace.