Thursday, June 03, 2010

Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli Sides with Westboro Baptist Church

Being that he's a religious nutcase himself, it should be no surprise that Virginia Attorney General Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli has refused to join in an amicus brief to be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case brought by the father of a service member whose funeral was protested and disrupted by Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church of "God Hates Fags" infamy. Kookinelli is one of only two state AG's to not join in the brief and claims he is doing so in support of Phelps' right of freedom of speech. Apparently, Kookinelli supports free speech unless it falls in the realm of academic freedom or otherwise counters Kookinelli's extremist religious beliefs. It's a case of transparent hypocrisy for certain, yet all to typical of folks like Kookinelli who have ZERO regard for the right to freedom of religion for others. Indeed, Kookinelli believes that Virginia gays should be punished for nonconformity to Christianist religious views and deserve no employment protections. The full brief that Cuccinelli declined to support can be found here. Channel 12 news has coverage on Kookinelli's latest idiocy. Here are some highlights:
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Never one to follow the crowd, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has decided against filing an amicus brief in a case before the Supreme Court involving the controversial Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). Cuccinelli is one of only two State Attorneys General in the entire country who have declined the opportunity to support Albert Snyder. Snyder sued WBC after the hate group protested at his son’s funeral. Snyder’s son was killed serving in Iraq.
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Snyder won his first case, but the decision was turned back by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, based on the 1st amendment. In addition to the overturned decision, he was ordered to pay the court costs of the Phelps family, the leaders of WBC.
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Snyder has gained the support of many politicians, including 42 U.S. Senators and every State Attorney General (including the District of Columbia) except for Maine and Virginia.

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