Brody's Notes & Scribbles... Westboro Supreme Court Decision Is Also A Victory For LGBTQ Persons

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) MAR 3 |  Yesterday's decision by the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the much despised Westboro Baptist Church, upholding their First Amendment Rights is not only a victory for that malignant Anti-Gay group, it is a huge victory for the greater LGBTQ community.

Remember when the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Hate Crimes Bill was signed into law by President Obama in October of 2009? The very first thing that the so-called Christian leadership of the various organisations arrayed against Equality & Freedom for the LGBTQ community did was to proclaim that the bill would make it a crime for them to preach  the word of God.

Oh really?

Joe Jervis, a respected activist, journalist, and editor of the widely popular Joe.My.God website posted the following excerpt from an outstanding analysis of yesterday's high court ruling written by Jim Burroway, founder & editor of The Box Turtle Bulletin website.

Jim's analysis & interpretation of the 8-1 vote by the court is brilliant and accurately outlines the argument that signifies, in my humble opinion, the absolute counterpoint to the Christian Right's long running argument that their freedom of expression & speech is stifled not only by the Shepard Act, but by other actions such as the Southern Poverty Law Centre's placing numerous alleged Christian organisations on the Centre's Hate Groups & Watch List.

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

To read the rest of Jim Burroway's column, please head here: [Link]