Anti-gay protesters at funerals may not be "free speech."

Or, at least, it may not be "protected" speech.

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.

source

Obviously we're talkin' Wesboro Baptist Church here. The Supremes will consider the case.

This is mixed news, because while it ma be good to limit insane over the top highly offensive crap and tell people like the Wesboro slobs to take their protest elsewhere, the basis of he brief is the sanctity of the funeral. I would rather this be based on the obnoxiousity and offensiveness of the protest than the spirituality or religiosity of the event.

And yes, I know some of you are going to get mad at me, but I don't automatically assume that their "speech" is protected in this context. There is a need in our society to define space a little better. Not in the restricted dumb-ass way that Coleman and the police chief in Saint Paul did during the Reublidumb National Convention, and not in the way that seems to apply to Westboro (scream at whomever you want wherever you want for whatever dumb-ass reason you want).

Somewhere in between would be nice.