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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Did anti-gay church have rights violated? Funeral protest law could face ACLU challenge The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a broad inquiry into how Illinois is enforcing a new state law designed to keep picketers affiliated with a radical Kansas church from disrupting military funerals. The ACLU has sent Freedom of Information Act requests to the offices of Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and several suburban and Downstate mayors and police chiefs to see how members of Westboro Baptist Church were dealt with and whether their free-speech rights were infringed upon. In Illinois in the last five months, church members have shown up at seven funerals for soldiers killed in the line of duty, carrying signs that said, "Thank God for dead soldiers," and, "God hates fags." Under a state law Quinn helped craft this year, protesters must stay at least 200 feet away from funerals, and their protests cannot take place during, or 30 minutes before or after, funerals. Told to move back The church has complained to the ACLU that its members were ushered off public sidewalks and rights-of-way across from funeral homes and told to relocate 200 feet away to comply with the new state law. Yet, the church told the ACLU that other groups -- namely counterprotesters opposed to the church's actions -- were allowed to express themselves "substantially closer" to the funerals. "I wouldn't want to extrapolate out that this is any kind of precursor to litigation. What it really is is that we've gotten these reports, and we're trying to find out what's happening on the ground," ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka said. Quinn defends law "One of the things we're trying to do through this [request for documents] is simply to continue to gather additional information about the way in which the law is being implemented." In its letter the ACLU said it does not think Westboro has engaged in "fighting words" in its Illinois protests. That term is the benchmark needed to trigger the law distancing protesters from funerals. The ACLU has filed lawsuits in Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio, challenging state laws aimed at putting a lid on Westboro's caustic protests. Quinn told the Sun-Times on Thursday that he believes the ACLU's inquiry to his office may suggest the group is weighing a similar lawsuit challenging Illinois' law. "The ACLU has represented ... this so-called church in seeking to strike down the law. We believe our law is the best drafted, but it does appear the ACLU is at least fishing in that area," he said. But Quinn says the law has been enforced in Illinois as it was intended and will survive a potential legal challenge. "We're prepared to fight to defend our law until our last breath," Quinn said.
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