Senate passes funeral protest bill 47-1

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Senate advanced a bill Thursday intended to prohibit protests within 500 feet of funerals -- legislation that stems from protests by a Kansas-based anti-gay group at Indiana military funerals.\nThe bill, which cleared the Senate 47-1, now moves to the House, where it could face changes because of confusion about what the legislation would actually do.\nSen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, filed the bill in response to a protest at the Aug. 28 funeral for Army Staff Sgt. Jeremy Doyle, an Indianapolis native killed in Iraq.\nSteele said he wants to ban all protesters from coming within 500 feet of burials and funeral homes during viewings. But some lawmakers said the bill as written would only prohibit protesters who were causing a disruption, not those who were silent.\nSteele said he would work with House members to amend the legislation to prohibit even silent protests within 500 feet of funerals.\n"If you're 500 feet back, and it's orderly, that's fine," Steele said. "My intent is that you don't come within 500 feet of the grave."\nThe bill currently states that disorderly conduct within 500 feet of a funeral would be a class D felony carrying a maximum three-year prison term and $10,000 fine. Disorderly conduct, which includes fighting or making unreasonable noise, is also a class D felony if committed at an airport.\nDuring August's protest, six members of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church dragged U.S. flags on the ground and shouted insults at Doyle's surviving relatives outside a mortuary in Martinsville, about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis. They have staged similar protests at other funerals in Indiana and other states.\nThe Rev. Fred Phelps, the church's founder, contends that American soldiers are dying in Iraq as vengeance from God because the United States harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' children, grandchildren and in-laws.\nSome senators were concerned that the bill could restrict freedom of speech. But Steele and other supporters said the bill was needed as a public safety measure to protect protesters.\n"When people are at their most frazzled moment emotionally, what little thing would it take for a loved one to tee off and go back there and hurt someone?" Steele asked.\nWhen Steele announced his intentions in October to file the bill, a Westboro member said the group would fight the move in court if necessary.\nSen. Anita Bowser, D-Michigan City, said she expected a challenge.\n"There will be a question, I'm sure, in the courts regarding freedom of speech, and I hope the court takes all kinds of things into consideration when it renders its decision," said Bowser, who voted for the bill.