Petition to Recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a Hate Group

Westboro Baptist Church is planning on picketing the funerals for the children and the teachers killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

In response to that plan, the hacker group KY Anonymous, reportedly targeted the website for Westboro Baptist Church as part of a campaign dubbed #OpWestboro.  They posted the personal information belonging to members of the extremist group.

They also posted this cryptic video pledging to derail the efforts of the church.

Anonymous, according to Wikipedia, "...strongly opposes Internet censorship and surveillance, and has hacked various government websites."

Likewise, according to Wikipedia, Westboro Baptist Church is "...an American, Independent Baptist church known for its extreme ideologies, especially those against homosexuality."

In a related note, a petition has been posted to WhiteHouse.org asking that President Obama recognize Westboro Baptist Church legally as a hate group.  Click HERE to read the petition and sign it if you wish.

As of 11:30am Monday, the petition has over 100,000  signatures.

So, I ask the question - Is Westboro Baptist Church just exercising their freedom of speech or are they a hate group?