Westboro Baptists Offer Compromise: No Funeral Protests in Exchange for Free Publicity

As public outcry mounts over the Westboro Baptist Church's planned protests at the funeral of last Saturday's shooting incident in Tucson, Ariz., the group's leaders have agreed to avoid Thursday's funeral of the youngest victim, 9-year-old Christina Taylor, in exchange for live interviews on radio programs in Canada and Arizona, the AP reports.

Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka says the group still plans to picket the Friday funeral of U.S. District Judge John Roll, who was also killed in the shooting targeting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. It's unclear what WBC's anti-homosexual message has to do with the victims of the shooting, but it appears the group's largest goal is getting attention in the media.

On Tuesday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law passed by the state legislature that places restrictions on the protest groups' access to the victims' funerals and grieving family members. "This bill passed unanimously out of both houses of the Arizona Legislature and represents a truly bipartisan effort to assure that grieving families and friends will be free from harassment and intimidation at the funerals of their loved ones," Brewer said in a statement.