DENVER -- A state lawmaker is working on a bill that would ban protests at military funerals.

It would make it mandatory that demonstrators set up and get no closer than 300 feet to a service. They could not demonstrate 30 minutes before and after the event as well.

The bill is in response to a Topeka, Kan,-based church that pickets military funerals.

Ultraconservative Westboro Baptist Church claims soldier deaths in Iraq are punishment for America's toleration of gays and lesbians. They protested this past weekend.

Rep. Michael Merrifield, a Democrat, said the protests are "appalling and disrespectful" and disrupts the privacy of the grieving families.

Eighteen members of the church picketed Saturday's service for Sgt. Gordon Misner, who died in Iraq after a roadside attack.