Should hate speech be protected?

The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, is renowned for demonstrating at the funerals of fallen American soldiers, usually with signs and chants denouncing gay people and the nation's tolerance and, indeed, acceptance of homosexuality.

A typical sign will read: "God hates fags."

Is this hate speech? To them it isn't. To the Westboro Baptist Church it is love speech because they honestly believe people who engage in homosexual behavior are going to hell. It is an expression of love, they feel, to wake people up, show them the errors of their ways, and point them in the right direction, which is heavenward.

I am an atheist who has a strong aversion to all religions, and if someone is straight or gay ranks on my scale of importance substantially below whether said person prefers butter or margarine on his or her toast. In other words, I couldn't care less what consenting adults do behind closed doors.

But I vehemently support the Westboro Baptist Church having the right to express their views, particularly in the proximity of military funerals. Why? Well, in my mind, every man and woman who died fighting for America was driven by one overriding motivation: to protect freedom. Freedom is the shining star, freedom is the foundation on which America was built, freedom is the religion that binds all Americans, regardless of gender, race, or age. Men and boys have sacrificed their lives on bloody beaches and in godforsaken hellholes fighting for freedom, and the military is the ultimate symbol of this fight.

In the old Soviet Union, there was nothing even resembling freedom of speech. Writers rotted in gulags, and Soviet citizens wallowed in a cesspool of government mandated conformity.

When an American wins a gold medal at the Olympics and speaks to the media, is anyone threatening his or her speech? Is anyone trying to shut him or her up? No. That speech needs no protection.

The speech that needs protection is hate speech, inappropriate speech, offensive speech. That is why the American Civil Liberties Union will have a black lawyer defend the Ku Klux Klan, and a Jewish lawyer defend the Nazi Party of the United States. The right supercedes emotion. Why?

Freedom.