"Thank God for Dead Soldiers"

On March 2nd the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that picketing at military funerals is protected under the First Amendment.
Lawsuits were filed when the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas began picketing military funerals with signs and slogans reading “God hates the U.S.A,” “Fag Troops,” “Thank God for dead soldiers” and more.
Opponents to the ruling argue it violates the sanctity and respect of fallen service members and their surviving families.
“A soldier’s funeral is the last great honor that he or she can receive,” says former Air Force Senior Airman David Stewart.
He continues by saying if people are “stupid enough to picket at a funeral, you have given up your right to be called an American and relabeled as a traitor.”
A demonstration that some freedoms we enjoy can be restricted is the 1986 case Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser.
The U.S. Supreme Court wrote in it’s decision that, “Surely, it is a highly appropriate function of public school education to prohibit the use of vulgar and offensive terms in public discourse.”
The Court explained that “schools must teach by example the shared values of a civilized social order.”
Being the civilized nation this is one would safely and adequately expect a reverence at a funeral as not everything that is of a political nature need be political in function.
The actions of the picketers being legally fought for would consequently constitute the lawful picketing of their own funerals by others with in-kind slogans and signs.
Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church was disbarred in 1979 by the Kansas Bar Association.
"They didn't like me doing pro bono work for poor black people. I sued almost every corporation and governmental entity in the state of Kansas and usually won,” he said in a November, 2010 interview with the Tulsa World.
Albert Snyder sued the Westboro Baptist Church (Snyder v. Phelps) for “intentional infliction of emotional distress” after Westboro members protested at the funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, a Marine who was killed in an accident in Iraq, the Tulsa World reported.
A court ordered the church to pay $11 million to the family.
That verdict was overturned, and the ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard arguments from Margie J. Phelps, a daughter of Westboro's pastor, Fred Phelps, represented the church leading to the upholding of the overturned ruling.
A conflict that still exists in the wake of this ruling is the issue of hate speech.
In his book Hate Speech, John Nockleby defines hate speech as, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race or sexual orientation.
Twice-deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Sergeant Alan Gaston of B Co, 1-126 AVN REGT in Stockton, Ca stated that “legally it’s a bunch of crap! Some chicken-[expletive] judge didn’t want to put his foot down. Personally, I think they should also allow the families to retaliate without any legal ramifications.”
In law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group.
As hate speech is illegal and thusly protesting in such a manner should be likewise.
The bottom line with speech is that simply because people have the right to say something does not necessarily mean that one should say something.
Freedom is not free.
Those that have served in a military capacity attest to this.
There must be maintained a balance between freedom and responsibility.
Without responsibility there is no freedom.
Conversely without responsibility there is no freedom, just anarchy.
Those hiding behind the law appear to be lacking in responsibility, but claim rights as if those being laid in dust were not the sole reason the rights this nation has are there in the first place.