Senator files bill to prohibit funeral protests

AUSTIN - Funeral protests by members of an anti-gay church in Kansas would be illegal under legislation proposed Tuesday by state Sen. Robert Duncan.

The legislation, which is not included in the call for the special legislative session that began Monday, doesn't specifically mention the protests of Westboro Baptist Church but was designed with them in mind.

Duncan's proposal would make it a Class B misdemeanor to protest within 500 feet of the site of a funeral service from one hour before to one hour after a site is used for a service.

The Topeka, Kan., church group, which claims that God is killing U.S. soldiers who fight for a country that tolerates homosexuality, protests at military funerals.

Governors in Oklahoma and Iowa have signed legislation making such protests illegal.

The proposal by Duncan, R-Lubbock, would prohibit protests on "social, economic, political or religious questions."