The family and friends of fallen Twentynine Palms Marine, Lance Cpl. Jason N. Barfield, are bracing themselves against the prospect of having their loved one's funeral picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church. The "church" has announced on its website that members plan to protest Barfield's funeral this Saturday in Ashford, Alabama.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket military funerals because they believe the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are God's punishment for the United States' "tolerance" of gays and lesbians. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the Westboro Baptist Church's right to protest military funerals is constitutionally protected.
Friends of Barfield have created a Facebook page to try and keep the Westboro protesters from interrupting his funeral:
Please attend the funeral of this fallen soldier, so that he can be laid to rest in peace and so that his family won't be bothered by these brainless idiots from Topeka, Kansas. They plan to picket his funeral. Let's make sure it doesn't happen.
The 22-year-old Barfield was killed October 24 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Last Christmas, he surprised his family with an unexpected homecoming. The video of that homecoming is courtesy of the Dothan Eagle:
