It's a radical way for them to get attention. It's really sick. Many states are working on bills making it illegal to picket close to a funeral. The church is mostly one family. What they didn't mention on the news story is they yell horrible things to the family members to where you can hear it inside of the services. They are not NICE people like the lady was trying to make herself out to be on there. godhatesfags.com is their website. They even have a pic of a casket saying "The are pieces of a solider."
The freedom fighters are the bikers that come and try to counterprotest. They usually rev their engines up so the family members won't hear the protesters yelling hurtful things. But sometimes the police tell the freedom fighters that they can't do that. The Westboro Church has a lawyer and she makes sure they get special escort treatment.
If you hear of this church wanting to picket somewhere near you there are some things you can do. First of all, call your senator and ask if there is a bill going up to prevent it and what the status of it is. If that doesn't work, counter-protest! Some people have put big plastic tents up as walls so that the poor families don't have to see those people. This is the myspace group I'm a part of that is against that church.
http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?...0B2870F8088963
Hope this clears some stuff up!