Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, led by Fred Phelps and others, have protested funerals and made deprecating statements against individuals and groups based on protected status such as race, religion, gender, military status, sexual preference, et al. allegedly under the protection of the First Ammendment.
We, the undersigned, believe that the First Ammendment should not be used to hide hate crimes, and urge that the US Government undertake an investigation into the actions of members of the Westboro Baptist Church to deem whether
- their actions and speech should in fact be considered hate crimes and prosecuted as such,
- the tax-exempt status of this organization should be revoked, and
- whether legal clarification is needed to define the line between Free Speech and hate.