I think Tracy Warner has it right in his post on free speech and funerals in response to Sen. Steele’s bill to criminalize disruptive speech near funerals.
The best way to deal with these funeral protesters is to ignore them. With the Indiana Senate voting to prohibit such demonstrations and the House poised to do the same, the legislature could well invite a protracted legal battle that will raise the profile of the protesters, give them just the forum they are looking for and — ultimately — strike down the law.
Don’t get me wrong. I agree with the bill’s sponsor: These protests at funeral are “unconscionable.”
. . .
The protesters don’t deserve the heightened profile this bill and subsequent legal battle will give them.
I disagree. I think this is something that we can say is out of line. Free speech is not granted in every forum. Can anyone walk onto the floor of the house and protest there?
If someone was protesting a funeral for someone close to me, I would expect the police to respond. Right now, they might either ignore the call to help since they know they can’t do anything or they could act.
Following arrest, a judge would rightly rule
that there was no law preventing such actions, so there is nothing “wrong” with what they were doing. Later, I’m sure this judge would be labeled an activist.
Laws like this allow “We the People” to say, “No, THIS behavior IS wrong.”
As for “just ignore it”: Can you imagine any TV station ignoring such an event? Would you rather impose laws restricting the press?
Let’s not forget that there already is a law against some of what these protestors did – disorderly conduct – and local police chose not to use it.
All Steele’s bill does right now, although he apparently wants it to do more, is increase the level of crime from a misdemenor to a felony if a person commits disorderly conduct within 500 feet of a gravesite.
If the level of actions doesn’t rise to disorderly conduct – like standing there quietly with a sign – then there is no violation.
The law would probably be a good idea to protect the protestors from their own stupidity. Passions can run high at a funeral. At some point, someone is going to take extreme umbrage at having their dearly departed mocked or criticized by a bunch of strangers. Those strangers’ wellbeing might not be foremost in a relative’s mind in a moment like that.