Fred Phelps and his “God hates fags” crowd might end up going broke:
A jury on Wednesday ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $10.9 million in damages to relatives of a U.S. Marine who died in Iraq after church members cheered his death at his funeral.
Church members said Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder’s death was God’s punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality, and they attended his 2006 funeral in Maryland with signs saying “You’re going to hell” and “God hates you.”
The federal jury determined the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, and three of its principals invaded the privacy of the dead man’s family and inflicted emotional distress.
Albert Snyder, the Marine’s father, testified that his son was not gay, but the church targeted the military as a symbol of America’s tolerance of gays. Matthew Snyder died in combat in Iraq in March 2006.
This opens up an interesting question to those trying for the Republican nomination. Do you support this ruling? They are so for tort reform and hate these kind of lawsuits, so will they side with the hatred of Phelps or will they back our troops? I wonder if we can find a debate moderator to ask that.