A pastor who wants to erect a monument condemning Matthew Shepard, a college student brutally murdered because he was gay, is prompting First Amendment debates among Penn State students and faculty.

Kansas Rev. Fred Phelps wants the display to read: "Matthew Shepard entered hell Oct. 12, 1998, at age 21 in defiance of God's warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."

Shepard died five days after being beaten into a coma.

Phelps said he wants the $15,000 display at a publicly owned park in Casper, Wyo., Shepard's hometown, because it is the town where Shepard learned that it is "OK to be gay."

Clay Calvert, Penn State associate professor of communications and law, said that while the First Amendment guarantees Phelps' right to voice offensive beliefs, it does not give him the right to place an offensive monument on public property.

However, Phelps is using a 2002 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to back his plan.

The ruling states that any city that displays the Ten Commandments on public property must also accept monuments supporting any other religious or political beliefs.

Casper erected a statue inscribed with the Ten Commandments in 1965.

Phelps has sparked an outcry among gay rights groups and has raised concerns about this extreme version of freedom of speech.

Kelly Ross (senior-microbiology), former president of Allies, said Phelps is putting his energy to bad use.

"I do think it shows a complete lack of respect," Ross said. "It is completely inappropriate to take somebody's life and demean it in that way."

Dan Gillespie (senior-media studies) also said the display would be "in poor taste" and that it exploits Shepard's death.

"I can definitely see [it resulting in] a change in the law -- a ground swell of support for change," he said. "I hope that would happen actually."

The historically conservative Willard Preacher, Gary Cattell, also believes Phelps has gone too far.

"None of us knows for sure who enters into heaven and who into hell," he said. "That's not the way to go about preaching Christianity."

Calvert said the 10th Circuit Court decision may allow public parks to become overrun with monuments and that the Ten Commandments statue may not have been a good idea in the first place.

"The court basically plays the roll of interior decorator. ... You can keep going on and on," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.