I don't know if any gay groups took part in any of this. Aside from the signs, Phelps pretty much leaves gays alone. If memory serves me right, Phelps and his gang used to protest at gay pride festivals and the funerals of AIDS victims. For whatever reason they've now focused their attention away from these type of events.
And, yes, Mr. Snyder is looking at a possible $100,000 bill. I thought I read somewhere that Bill O'Reilly has offered to pay it.
After posing that question, I decided to check the SCOTUS docket on the Snyder/Phelps case to see who’d filed amicus briefs. Good ole ACLU was there, a few with names that seemed to focus on the 1st Amendment, and a few with totally obscure names. But I didn’t see any obvious GLAD-types.
I read in the WaPo story about the ruling that the lawyer-daughter said they would increase protests, and look at challenging local/state laws restricting their protests, but Roberts pretty well covered that in his Opinion.
This will end when everyone, press in particular, stops paying attention to them. Just bring out the Patriot Guard to block their visibility, give them no coverage whatsoever, and it’s back to Topeka.
I remember O’Reilly saying he’d cover Snyder on the legal bills, so he gets kudo’s for that. If the legal bill to go through the District Court, Court of Appeals and SCOTUS is only $100K, they’re charging Topeka lawyer rates. Just printing those SCOTUS briefs runs thousands of dollars each.