<i>Jade here....
Check it out. Their called the patriot guard. <b>Protesting the protestors</b>...I love it.</i><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
<i>I found this article and I truly hope the legislation mentioned at the end passes soon. Here's my ???, some cemetaries are private owned and also aren't funerals considered a private thing. Couldn't these <i>self righteous </i>S.O.B's be prevented from even entering a funeral.<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif" border="0"></i>
<b>Veterans to block funeral protests
Patriot Guard plans to prevent disruption of services for soldier in Grand Ledge.</b><u>Mike Martindale / The Detroit News</u>
GRAND LEDGE -- As family and friends of a Michigan soldier killed in Iraq gather today to say their final farewells, a church known for its anti-gay protests will picket the services before heading to Lansing to protest lawmakers' attempts to outlaw the practice.
And hundreds of military veterans, including members of Michigan motorcycle clubs who are part of a group called the Patriot Guard, will be on hand to keep demonstrators away.
Army Cpl. Nyle Yates III, 22, died in Bayji, Iraq, on March 16 when he came under small-arms fire by enemy forces during combat. The Lake Odessa native and 2002 graduate of Lakewood High School was in his second tour of duty in Iraq. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a Topeka, Kan.-based congregation, plan to travel to the Lansing area to protest at the funeral. They contend that soldiers' deaths are "God's way" of punishing the nation for permitting homosexuality.
The group, led by the Rev. Fred Phelps, is a small, fundamentalist congregation composed mostly of Phelps' family and relatives. They have picketed military funerals across the nation -- including twice last month at funerals of fallen Michigan servicemen in Flushing and Flint.
The Patriot Guard has responded by putting out "action alerts" to shield family members of fallen soldiers from the pickets at funerals nationwide.
"Every one of us veterans has fought for the rights of freedom of speech and press. But this is just a hate group looking for publicity," said Larry Helser, a 59-year-old Marine Corps veteran from the Lansing area and member of the Patriot Guard.
"We want to obscure the view of this fallen hero's family from these protesters. No politics. No violence. We just want to make sure, in a peaceful fashion, they are able to say goodbye without any problems."
The protesters have cited free speech as a defense in their activities over the past decade, including the picketing of funerals of AIDS victims and that of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student beaten to death because he was gay.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, is seeking federal legislation to ban pickets from within 500 feet of a funeral. Michigan state Rep. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan, and Rep. John Gleason, D-Flushing, are sponsoring bipartisan legislation in Lansing that would similarly protect the rights of families.
Yates is among more than 2,500 coalition troops, including 2,322 U.S. troops, who have died in Iraq since March 19, 2003. At least 17,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon.