The Supreme Court has heard arguments in the case of a Pennsylvania man challenging a homophobic church that held a protest at his son’s military funeral. The father, Albert Snyder, initially won a $5 million judgment against the Westboro Baptist Church, which demonstrates outside military funerals to publicize its anti-gay views. Church members believe that military deaths are God’s punishment for homosexuality in the United States. A federal appeals court overturned the $5 million penalty last year after ruling the church’s First Amendment rights were violated. Earlier this year, the court ordered Snyder to pay Westboro over $16,000 to cover the costs of its successful appeal. On Wednesday, Snyder said the church’s actions shouldn’t be considered an issue of free speech.

Albert Snyder: “In my opinion, speaking as a father, the Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church conduct was so extreme, it went beyond all possible bounds of basic human decency, that it can be regarded as utterly intolerable in a civilized nation. All we wanted to do was bury Matt with dignity and respect.”