SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Kansas-based group that has used inflammatory language to protest military funerals nationwide prompted California lawmakers to restrict how close such protesters can get to funeral services and religious observances.
The state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill by Sen. Ted Lieu that requires such groups to stay 1,000 feet from a burial site, mortuary or place of worship.
His bill, SB888, was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in March that said protests by the Westboro Baptist Church are protected free speech. Members of the Topeka, Kan.-based church picket funerals, contending God is punishing the military for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.
The bill by Lieu, a Torrance Democrat, makes it a misdemeanor to protest within the 1,000-foot perimeter for an hour before or after a funeral.
Malta votes ‘Yes’ to divorce in referendum
VALLETTA, Malta — Malta, the tiny, staunchly Roman Catholic island — has voted by a narrow margin in favor of legalizing divorce, according to the results of a referendum.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who had campaigned against divorce, said parliament would respect the will of the people in the nonbinding referendum and work on legislation to legalize divorce. Malta is the last remaining European Union nation that bans divorce.
“Even though the result is not what I wished for, now it is our duty to see that the will of the majority is respected,” Gonzi said in a televised speech.
The Times of Malta reported that 52.67 percent of voters favored allowing divorce.
The issue has been hotly debated and allegiances went beyond party lines.
“This is a conservative society, but Maltese still live like Europeans. This regularizes their lives,” said analyst Saviour Balzan, whose newspaper, Malta Today, had campaigned in favor of the legalization of divorce. “It gives a new lifeline to hundreds of people.”
Malta, which also bans abortion, has long Catholic traditions and the church’s influence on the Mediterranean nation’s 400,000 citizens is still significant. Some 95 percent of the population calls itself Roman Catholic. Pope Benedict XVI visited the island last year.