Don't fight hate speech by limiting freedom

[J. Noble]

At 9:26 AM -0700 6/8/06, Bryan Wildenthal wrote:
>And yet, surely there must be a way to protect the privacy of 
>funeral observants who simply wish to be left alone in their grief 
>and do NOT want the funeral to become a protest occasion of any 
>sort, either in favor of or against the deceased.

Anti-gay funeral protesters sued
Father of slain Westminster Marine says members defamed him, invaded 
family's privacy
By Gina Davis
Sun Reporter
Originally published June 6, 2006

The father of a Westminster Marine whose funeral was picketed by an 
anti-gay group is accusing its members of defaming him, invading the 
family's privacy and intentionally inflicting emotional distress, in 
the first individual lawsuit brought against the Kansas organization 
for its protests at these ceremonies.

*    *    *

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/carroll/bal-md.ca.protest06jun06,0,5382360.story?coll=bal-local-carroll

The strong claim is intentional infliction of emotional distress. The 
constitutional question is whether it gets  a First Amendment defense 
like NYT v. Sullivan.

John Noble