Free (Hate) Speech aka "To Speak or not to Speak"

"To speak or not to speak, that is the question." Back again with yet another interesting article from the beautiful minds of the people of Newsweek. Hmmm.... a little sarcasm at play here or not? I bet you guys would like to know. Anyhow, the article that will be the topic of discussion on this nice saturday evening will be one concerning freedom of speech, our "beautiful" first amendment right. The article talks about a father who's lost his son due to the "War" in Iraq back in 2006. The Maryland father wanted to do the right thing and honor his son at the military funeral. Little did he know that people would picket near the church with signs reading such slurs as, "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "Fag Troops". It was never stated within the article whether or not the son was gay, something that is forbidden in the armed services. The group which are from a Baptist Church flew from Topeka, Kansas to Maryland just to picket this funeral and share their views. The question is whether these actions are considered free speech under the first amendment. Knock, knock..... (in enters the exigence). Free speech is never really free at the end of the day. You have all types of regulations and censorship that prohibits free speech in America, i.e. the FCC. In no way do I share their views or feel that what they did was right. I feel that there is a right time and right place to say things and express opinions that can offend, funerals are not one of those places. The father sued the Church for defamation and intrusion. It was a $10 million suit and he won the case. Later it was reduced to $5 million and now it has become a matter of the U.S. Supreme Court and will be reviewed. The people of this Kansas church seem a bit radical and obviously have extreme right wing conservative views, their audience. That is the audience that they are trying to appeal to. They are clearly against the homosexual community and will stop at nothing to express their views. Knock knock......."Who is it?" "Mr. Constraints." Lol, a little corny, I know. Anyhow, these beliefs and views that they share is what have influenced them to picket over 600 military funerals. They say the best things in life are free, if that is the case, on the list of "The Best 100 things in Life", speech would probably rank at 105.