It Is Neither the Time Nor the Place

I really don't think the Westboro Baptist Church needs any more notoriety.

Based in Kansas, the church — the congregation of which appears to be largely members of the founder's family — has earned a reputation over the years as a hate group, taking part in pickets against gays, Jews and other groups.

The reputation is well deserved. By the group's own count, it has sponsored more than 30,000 protests in more than 500 cities and towns located in every state.

The group has been particularly active in protesting the funerals of gays, gaining national attention in the late 1990s when it picketed at the funeral of a gay man who was beaten to death in Wyoming. The church spends approximately $250,000 a year on picketing.

As I say, its activities have earned the Westboro Baptist Church a reputation as a hate group.

And I really think you have to be hateful to plan to picket the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards in Raleigh, N.C., this Saturday.

As we all know, Mrs. Edwards was estranged from her husband. But it was not because either one came out of the closet. In short, she wasn't gay.

However, she was an advocate of gay marriage, and I presume it is because of that that the protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church will bring their traveling road show to North Carolina this weekend.

I think you've got to be pretty hateful to attempt to disrupt a woman's funeral because of her political views.

Especially when that woman left behind two young children who she (apparently) tried to prepare for her death but must, nevertheless, be emotionally wounded by her death.

Children do seem to grow up faster these days than they did when I was a child, but I think it is probably safe to say that a 12–year–old girl and a 10–year–old boy know comparatively little about homosexuality.

This particular girl and boy do know that their mother is gone — and the last thing they need to deal with on a day when they will be mourning her loss is the anger and hysteria of homophobes.

This funeral is neither the time nor the place for this protest. In the name of all that is decent and humane, I hope the Westboro Baptist Church will reconsider.

Obviously, this is a fight the members of this church believe they must fight. They have already done so repeatedly.

Fight it somewhere else. There is nothing to be gained from fighting it in North Carolina — except enmity.