Westboro Baptist Church, known for its website “GodHatesFags”, has been fined for demonstrating at the funeral of a US soldier killed in Iraq.
“The brokenhearted father of a Marine killed in Iraq won a long-shot legal fight today after a federal jury in Baltimore awarded him nearly $11 million in a verdict against members of a Kansas church who hoisted anti-gay placards at his son’s Westminster funeral.
The jury’s announcement 24 hours after deliberations first began was met with tears and hugs from the family and supporters of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, whose March 2006 funeral was protested by members of the Westboro Baptist Church with signs including ‘Thank God for dead soldiers.’
Snyder’s father, Albert, won on every count of his complaint, as well as $2.9 million for compensatory damages and $8 million for punitive damages.”
People from the congregation of the Baptist church have long been notorious for their demonstrations against congregations, including many of the Episcopal Church, and at the funeral of Matthew Shepherd, a gay man killed in a hate crime motivated slaying.
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