Quote Of The Day - Sen. Rand Paul

"I’m not for profiling people on the color of their skin, or on their religion, but I would take into account where they’ve been traveling and perhaps, you might have to indirectly take into account whether or not they’ve been going to radical political speeches by religious leaders. It wouldn’t be that they are Islamic. But if someone is attending speeches from someone who is promoting the violent overthrow of our government, that’s really an offense that we should be going after — they should be deported or put in prison." - Supposedly libertarian Sen. Rand Paul, who presumably includes revolution-minded teabaggers among those who should be imprisoned.

Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber: Dan Savage Is The Gay Version Of Fred Phelps

Father Of Slain Soldier Predicts Gunfire At Future Westboro Baptist Pickets

Bereaved father Albert Snyder, who lost his Supreme Court battle with Westboro Baptist Church earlier this week, says that somebody is inevitably going to open fire on the Phelps family.

"Something is going to happen," Albert Snyder told CNN Thursday. "Somebody is going to get hurt." "You have too many soldiers and Marines coming back with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and they (the Westboro protesters) are going to go to the wrong funeral and the guns are going to go off." "And when it does," Snyder said. "I just hope it doesn't hit the mother that's burying her child or the little girl that's burying her father or mother. It's inevitable." Albert Snyder again slammed the high court justices for not having "the common sense that God gave a goat." "I just can't believe that there was no common sense used in this decision," Snyder said.

Snyder must now pay $116K in court costs to the Phelps.

America's Bedrock

HomoQuotable - Jim Burroway

"This [Westboro] ruling is important for many reasons. First and foremost, it preserves the primacy of free speech in America, which benefits us all. But from a parochial pro-LGBT narrative, it’s equally important to note that it proves the lie to the multiple instances when anti-gay activists falsely claimed that advances in LGBT equality and protections — whether they come in the form of marriage equality or hate crimes protections — will result in the infringement of religious and speech rights. They never have and, if this ruling is any indication, it reaffirms the fact that they never will. So the next time someone claims that marriage equality will result in pastors being prosecuted for hate speech, make a note of it: Snyder v Phelps." - Jim Burroway, writing for Box Turtle Bulletin.

Sarah Palin On Westboro Ruling

Supreme Court OK's Westboro Protests

The Supreme Court today ruled 8-1 to overturn a $5M judgment against Westboro Baptist Church, saying that the First Amendment protects their right to picket the funerals of military members. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and– as it did here– inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker."

LOS ANGELES: Student Loses Suit Against College For Stopping His Anti-Gay Speech

Shortly after the passage of Proposition 8, Los Angeles City College student Jonathan Lopez was stopped by his public speaking professor as he attempted to deliver a speech against marriage equality. Lopez alleged that the professor called him a "fascist bastard" and told him to "ask God what your grade is." He then won the right to sue the college for violating his First Amendment rights. On Friday the Ninth Circuit Court overturned that decision.

Lopez, a self-described Christian, claimed a professor stopped him mid-speech, deeming his words sexual harassment under the Los Angeles Community College District's code of conduct. He sued the district in February 2009 in Los Angeles federal court, claiming the code was so broad that it limited his right to free speech. U.S. Circuit Court Judge Sandra S. Ikuta wrote in the opinion handed down today that Lopez, "failed to make a clear showing that his intended speech on religious topics gave rise to a specific and credible threat of adverse action from college officials under the college's sexual harassment policy.''

Lopez' lawsuit has been closely followed by Christianist websites who claim that his case is yet another example of Christian speech being stifled at the nation's universities. He was represented by the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund.

Tweet Of The Day - Sarah Palin

Mama Grizzly don't appear to understand the First Amendment, do she?

American Family Association Calls For Ban On Building ANY Mosques In America

"Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero. This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government. Each one is a potential jihadist recruitment and training center, and determined to implement the 'Grand Jihad' of which Andy McCarthy has written.

"Because of this subversive ideology, Muslims cannot claim religious freedom protections under the First Amendment. They are currently using First Amendment freedoms to make plans to destroy the First Amendment altogether. There is no such thing as freedom of religion in Islam, and it is sheer and utter folly for Americans to delude themselves into thinking otherwise." - AFA radio host Bryan Fischer.

Please remember to quote the American Family Association every single time they scream about homofascists infringing upon freedom of religion.

Philadelphia Loses Bid To Oust Boy Scouts From City-Owned Building

A Philadelphia federal jury has ruled unanimously that the city violated the First Amendment rights of the Boy Scouts when it used the group's anti-gay policies in an attempt to evict them from their city-owned building.

"We can't be kicked out of the building or evicted and we don't have to pay any rent," Scouts' attorney William M. McSwain said of the verdict involving the organization's policy. Scouts lawyers said they expect U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter to issue a permanent injunction that bars the Scouts' eviction based on their anti-gay policy. That's not, however, necessarily the end. Under the city's lease, it can evict the Scouts without giving a reason, Scouts' Jason P. Gosselin said. In an unusual address to the jury, Buckwalter said he hopes the Council and the city can reach a final negotiated solution. The Scouts are willing to negotiate and would like to end the nearly 7-year standoff, Gosselin said.

Wingnut blogs are already celebrating.

MINNEAPOLIS: Anti-Gay Activists Given OK To Proselytize At Pride Festival

Twin Cities Pride is warring with the Minneapolis parks department over the decision to allow anti-gay activists on the grounds of their Pride festival, where the husband and wife team of Brian and Lois Johnson is expected to attempt to hand out bibles and shout about Jeebus.

Festival organizers say they paid ten of thousands of dollars to secure the park for this weekend’s celebration, giving them a right to control the message of the event. The park board has given the OK to Brain and Lois Johnson to distribute the Bibles, saying it is merely standing up for free speech. “The park board’s decision is akin to allowing the Klu Klux Klan to openly convey their racist and anti-immigration views at the Cinco de Mayo festival,” said Eileen Scallen, an attorney for the Pride Festival and a professor at William Mitchell College of Law. Pride officials say they will seek a federal injunction Wednesday to prevent the Johnsons from handing out books and anti-gay literature within Loring Park during the festival. They gave the park board until Tuesday evening to reverse the decision to allow the Johnsons in the park.

The Johnsons are being backed by the Alliance Defense Fund, which has defended many similar cases around the country. The ADF says it will sue Minneapolis if their clients are banned from the park. Last year the Johnsons were arrested for trespassing at the festival, but the city later dropped the charges.

States Pile On Against Westboro

Almost all of the states have signed onto an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, asking that military funerals be protected from the likes of the Phelps clan.

Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in support of a father who sued anti-gay protesters over their demonstration at the 2006 funeral of his son, a Marine killed in Iraq. Only Virginia and Maine declined to sign the brief by the Kansas attorney general. Albert Snyder sued over protests by the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church at his son's funeral in Maryland. The church pickets funerals because they believe war deaths are punishment for U.S. tolerance of homosexuality.

In March a judge ruled that Snyder must pay Westboro's court costs for defending themselves against his suit. Bill O'Reilly then stepped in to pay Snyder's fine personally.

BRITAIN: Preacher Arrested For Calling Homosexuality A Sin

A British preacher has been arrested and charged with causing "harassment, alarm, or distress" after he was overheard reciting a list of sins that included homosexuality. Dale McAlpine was taken into custody after a gay police liaison officer overheard him and summoned regular cops.

The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God. Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act. Mr McAlpine, who was taken to the police station in the back of a marked van and locked in a cell for seven hours on April 20, said the incident was among the worst experiences of his life. “I felt deeply shocked and humiliated that I had been arrested in my own town and treated like a common criminal in front of people I know," he said. “My freedom was taken away on the hearsay of someone who disliked what I said, and I was charged under a law that doesn't apply.” Christian campaigners have expressed alarm that the Public Order Act, introduced in 1986 to tackle violent rioters and football hooligans, is being used to curb religious free speech. Sam Webster, a solicitor-advocate for the Christian Institute, which is supporting Mr McAlpine, said it is not a crime to express the belief that homosexual conduct is a sin. “The police have a duty to maintain public order but they also have a duty to defend the lawful free speech of citizens,” he said.

Like similar cases, McAlpine's arrest is already being splashed across anti-gay and right wing sites as yet another example of the coming crushing of American religious expression at the hands of censorious homofascists.