To the editor:

For the past 20 years, while Fred Phelps was exclusively targeting the funerals of men who had died of AIDS and noted gay individuals, state and federal governments stood idly by. So why do something about it now? The reason is because members of the heterosexual community have finally felt the hate that has been reserved for homosexuals targeted at their own people.

Recently, legislation prohibiting picketing at funerals has been passed, a lawsuit is awaiting review by the Supreme Court, and political leaders are now taking a stand against Phelps. This appears only to be an attempt to protect U.S. soldiers and their families — not the people who this whole crisis centers around. It is gay people that Phelps claims are hated by God, and it has been gay men and women who have suffered this abuse for two decades.

These laws, the Snyder lawsuit, and the amicus brief Attorney General Steve Six is submitting to the Supreme Court are too little, too late. It is a slap in the face to all the other people whose family members were not worthy enough to warrant such action. I am deeply saddened and insulted that only after the intrusion into the funerals of U.S. soldiers, that higher-ups are finally stepping forward to throw their weight around. I suggest you all open your eyes to who the real victims are, and have always been.