Hate Preach

[cbayer]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/08/scott_lively_can_he_be_punished_in_the_u_s_for_speech_against_gay_ugandans.html

An American brags that he's the father of the Ugandan anti-gay movement. Can he be prosecuted in the U.S.?

By Dahlia Lithwick|Posted Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, at 6:05 PM


Pastor Scott Lively, center, enters U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mass., on Jan. 7, 2013. Can he be punished in the United States for how his speech affects members of the LGBT community in Uganda?
Photo by John Suchocki/The Republican/masslive.com

Can an American court hold a U.S. citizen liable for the effects his speech has in a foreign country? We may soon find out. Last Wednesday a federal judge allowed a novel legal claim to proceed in his Massachusetts courtroom, setting up a groundbreaking suit pitting the free-speech rights of an anti-gay pastor and activist against the basic human rights of gay Ugandans.

If you haven’t heard of Scott Lively yet, you will. The pastor is hardly unique in his views about the evils of homosexuality, from repurposing the old canard that to be gay is to be a pedophile, to his original and truly deranged claim that it was homosexuals who caused the Holocaust. Lively’s got a predictably loyal following of haters and snarlers. It’s just that unlike his brethren who stop at preaching religious hatred on cable television and AM radio, Lively has taken his virulent hate speech on the road, consulting in many other countries, specifically Uganda and Russia, to persuade foreign governments to pass brutally repressive anti-gay legislation.

Indeed Lively played a key role at an anti-gay conference in 2009 that eventually led to the drafting of Uganda’s so-called Kill the Gays bill, a bill that’s been kicking around its Parliament ever since, that would impose the death penalty for the “offense of homosexuality” under certain circumstances. And Lively has also been involved in efforts to criminalize gay advocacy in various foreign countries—resulting in not just rising abuse and reprisals, but in a gutting of the very legal protections with which gay advocates might defend themselves.

Lively has openly bragged of his own role as the "father" of the anti-gay movement in Uganda, calling his campaign “a nuclear bomb against the ‘gay’ agenda in Uganda.” The question is whether all this constitutes mere speech or something more.

more at link

[trotsky]

1. Lively can certainly be proven factually wrong on some of his claims.

But of course since it's his religion, he is justified in rejecting any objective facts he wants in favor of "another way of knowing."

Because if he truly believes homosexuality is a sin, who can prove him wrong?

[Bluenorthwest]

2. I take issue with Lively being called Pastor Lively. He is a activist and lawyer, he has no church

congregation of any kind. He is no ones Pastor. Slate should correct their misuse of that title.

[cbayer]

3. I agree. I think he has given himself that title in order to try and

lend some legitimacy to his campaign of hate.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. I knew you would. I'm glad he's being called to task, that's for sure.

nt

[cbayer]

5. Just did some research on him.

Got his "theology degree" from an online "university" and I can't find any evidence that he has ever been ordained by anyone.

I also love that he is getting publicity at this point. Will be very interesting to follow.

Hope you are well, BNW.

[SecularMotion]

6. Dupe

You've posted this before

http://www.democraticunderground.com/121890718

[cbayer]

7. Nope, that was a news story. This is further analysis by Salon.

[okasha]

8. If I recall correctly,

Liberty Counsel is one of Jerry Falwell's spawn. I'm assuming this is a civil suit, given that it's being pursued under torts. I wish there were a way to nail the bastard for crimes against humanity.