BISMARCK - The House on Friday unanimously approved a bill that creates a 300-foot buffer zone around funerals and sent it on to the Senate.
North Dakota joins dozens of other states that have passed similar laws.
House Bill 1040 was inspired by hostile demonstrations at soldiers' funerals around the country, including in North Dakota, by members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.
The bill outlaws "loud singing, playing of music, chanting, whistling, yelling, or noisemaking" within 300 feet of the entrance or exit of a funeral, whether it's a church, funeral home or cemetery.
It also bans within the same radius displays of "visual images that convey fighting words or actual or veiled threats." It applies an hour before and an hour after the services. The bill protects all funerals, not just war casualties.
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Violators would get up to a maximum 30-day jail sentence and $500 fine on the first offense and up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine on subsequent convictions.
Westboro Baptist members say the soldiers have died in Iraq and Afghanistan because God is punishing the U.S. for tolerating homosexuality. They first attracted attention several years ago when they picketed funerals of gay men.
Before Friday's vote, House Majority Leader Rick Berg, R-Fargo, publicly thanked the Patriot Guard, motorcyclists who have responded to the threats of pickets by surrounding churches to form a wall between the demonstrators and the soldiers' families and mourners. The House responded with a round of applause.
After the vote, the bill's prime sponsor, Rep. Bette Grande, R-Fargo, thanked the House for acting quickly. She was inspired to introduce the bill after she learned the Kansas demonstrators had appeared at the burial of family friend Sgt. Bryan Opskar, of Moorhead, who was killed in Iraq.
Readers can reach Forum Communications reporter Janell Cole at (701) 224-0830 or forumcap@btinet.net
