By IL Public Radio
Springfield, Ill. – An Illinois House committee has advanced a measure to restrict protests near funerals.
The legislation grew out of more than a half dozen protests around the state at military funerals and memorial services.
Families of servicemen killed in Iraq and Afghanistan say members of a controversial church based in Topeka, Kansas have attended more than a half dozen funerals around the state, chanting and carrying signs that applaud the death of military personnel.
Linda Morrison says they appeared at the service for her son, Gary Harper of Virden, who was killed in Iraq last year. She says the protests disrupt families in a time of grief.
The church's web site blasts the U-S for what it terms a "pro-homosexual agenda" and says God is exacting revenge when members of the military are killed.