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“…widespread, systematic persecution of individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity constitutes a crime against humanity.”

By Cathy Kristofferson, August 15, 2013

On August 14 we reported here on OBLOGDEE that Springfield U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Posner, ruled against radical Christian Evangelical Scott Lively in his motion to dismiss the case of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) v. Scott Lively.   Accused of Crimes Against Humanity, the case against Lively will go forward and the purveyor of anti-gay hate will stand trial for his actions that caused the persecution of LGBTI Ugandans. Perhaps this should extend beyond.

Since leading the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance (OCA) and the 1992 ballot campaign for an amendment to the state constitution to declare homosexuality perverse requiring schools to teach that it was equal to pedophilia, Lively has continued his campaign to persecute gays around the world.  The SMUG v. Lively lawsuit alleges he began conspiring with Ugandan leaders a decade later in 2002, resulting eventually in the introduction of the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill otherwise known as the “Kill The Gays Bill” and causing much publicized persecution of gay Ugandans.

In 2006 Lively began touring former Soviet Union (FSU) countries pushing for legislation to defeat the so called ‘Homosexual Agenda,’ all the while trying to revive the OCA by recruiting Soviet émigrés. His influence is apparent in the SFU countries, Russia and Moldova, as the timing and his modus operandi points to a connection to the multiple anti-gay laws that have emerged.  Belarus and Latvia are rumored to be on the verge of similar legislation.

In the U.S., Lively has delivered his message of hate from Springfield, Oregon to Springfield, Missouri to Springfield, Massachusetts and most states in between. Now, finally Scott Lively is being held accountable.

Judge Posner rejected the five arguments made for dismissal:

1. the court lacks jurisdiction
2. the court cannot recognize an Alien Torte Statue (ATS) claim
3. the Plaintiff (SMUG) lacks standing
4. the right of free speech described in the U.S. Constitution prohibits court action
5. the Massachusetts state claims lack adequate legal foundation

In the ruling, Judge Posner declared the “Defendant played a crucial role in developing strategies to deny basic rights to Plaintiff’s members over the last decade” after stating “Widespread, systematic persecution of LGBTI people constitutes a crime against humanity that unquestionably violates international norms.”

Lively and his defense team have long claimed he is protected by the U.S. Constitution’s ‘freedom of speech.’ They claim Lively’s denigrating words are just his opinion and do no direct harm. They claim he has not taken any action. He further claims that it is the LGBTI community in Uganda doing the ‘promoting’ and ‘recruiting’. However it is clear that in fact it is Scott Lively who is promoting and recruiting Ugandans to increase his anti-gay flock for the work of persecuting the LGBTI community.

But the Judge felt “the Amended Complaint adequately alleges that Defendant’s actions have fallen well outside the protections of the First Amendment.”

Judge Posner quoted Justice Black in his reasoning about the First Amendment protections by saying: “On the other hand, when noxious words become part of a criminal enterprise, the First Amendment provides limited protection. As Justice Black, an unsurpassed supporter of the First Amendment, wrote:

“It rarely has been suggested that the constitutional freedom for speech and press extends its immunity to speech or writing used as an integral part of conduct in violation of a valid criminal statute. We reject the contention now. . . .

. . . [I]t has never been deemed an abridgment of freedom of speech or press to make a course of conduct illegal merely because the conduct was in part initiated, evidenced, or carried out by means of language, either spoken, written or printed. Such an expansive interpretation of the constitutional guaranties of speech and press would make it practically impossible ever to enforce laws against agreements in restraint of trade as well as many other agreements and conspiracies deemed injurious to society.”

The judge concluded: “It is well-established that speech that constitutes criminal aiding and abetting is not protected by the First Amendment.”

and:

“The complexion of the case at this stage entitles Plaintiff to discovery and requires the court to deny Defendant’s motion to dismiss.”

Scott Lively’s actions of persecution are not limited to Uganda. Yesterday I did an interview with a local radio station about the court ruling and was asked if I thought Scott Lively posed a threat to the people of Springfield (MA). I replied without blinking “Of course!” Because everywhere he peddles his vile lies accusing the LGBT community of ‘coming for your children’, of falsely linking homosexuality with pedophilia, of clinging to the debunked quack science of ‘praying away the gay’, of insisting homosexuality is the result of some traumatic event from childhood, he hurts LGBT people both directly and indirectly. He enrages some of those listening to the point of violence. His actions create harmful legislation and derail protective legislation.

Lively visited 50 cities in 7 countries in former Soviet countries including Russia in 2006 and 2007 prior to the 2009 Uganda workshop Lively proclaimed “nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda” which became significant evidence in the SMUG case. We know this because Lively brags about it on his own blog site.

He brags that the only countries, at the time of his post, to enact the very legislation he recommended are the two countries to which he personally sent “Letters To The People”. Those two countries are Russia and Lithuania. Since that time Moldova where he left a video outlining how to defeat ‘The Gay Agenda’ has passed its own so-called ‘gay propaganda’ law. Belarus is rumored not far behind with similar stifling legislation. Gay Pride is now banned for 100 years in Moscow. In these countries one cannot wear a rainbow pin or even say one positive word about homosexuality out loud without being arrested.

Last July Lively rushed to Springfield Missouri for the sole purpose of persecuting their LGBT community with a strong dose of his over the top rhetoric – see the sign to the left claiming Human Rights Commissions are Gay Trojan Horses. As we reported, he went there to help defeat a proposed municipal ordinance guaranteeing the LGBT community job and housing protections by whatever means he found necessary. The jobs and housing discrimination protections were derailed.

Just last month, Lively visited the people of Hungary and issued yet another of his infamous “Letter to the People” decrees outlining the evil which would arrive should they embrace the so-called gay agenda as “extremely destructive moral anarchy that dissolves and disintegrates civilization”. He told them “I strongly advise that you adopt an anti-propaganda law similar to what Russia has recently passed, to stop the “gay” agenda from advancing any further.” More LGBT oppression set in motion by Scott Lively.

Busy this July he also went on a multiple conservative state tour visiting at least Oklahoma, Missouri and Nebraska because he brags about it on his blog while advertising “I am looking for more invitations to conservative states“ to join the fray of defeating ‘The Homosexual Agenda’.

This tour is a follow up to the initial organizing done in Oklahoma this past April for the launch of his First Amendment Supremacy Clause campaign. The clause that he is fighting to have added to all non-discrimination protections everywhere he can for what amounts to religious bigotry trumping legal protections already in place.

As you can see, Lively shows no sign of curtailing or lessening his campaign of hate and persecution, but rather seems to ramping up before any court decision.

Scott Lively is not the only American Evangelical working his hate against the LGBT community worldwide. Members of the International House of Prayer frequent Africa. The opposition in Belize is lead by a Texan minister. American Evangelicals are waging war on the LGBTI communities of many foreign nations as well as here at home.

Lively’s instigation incites others to take up his mantel of hate against the LGBT community. SMUG under the guidance of CCR has bravely come forward to take him on.

Perhaps SMUG will inspire. Perhaps the LGBT community in the U.S. will now be inspired to do more to prevent the further export of homophobia across the globe. These ‘Missionaries of Hate’, as the Current TV movie calls them, must be stopped. If courts are where it has to happen, not the public square, so be it.

As the SMUG v. Lively lawsuit asks, we need to have “injunctive relief enjoining Defendant from undertaking further actions, and from plotting and conspiring with others, to persecute.” Let us all demand it for human rights worldwide and explore all available measures to hold Scott and the Lively’s of the world fully accountable.

Related articles:-

• MA court declares evangelical pastor Lively must stand trial for Crimes Against Humanity (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• U.S. District Court Memorandum and Order Regarding Defendant’s Motions to Dismiss (ccrjustice.org)
• U.S. Christian Extremist Sees Russia’s New Homophobic Laws as Model (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Scott Lively incites war against the homosexualization of states (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Scott Lively | Satan wins back the scouts (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Poor Scott Lively bullied and intimidated by homo-fascists (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Gay-hating Pastor Scott Lively finds new foothold in Oklahoma (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Scott Lively’s lies may spell perjury at trial and should result in dismissal of summary judgment motion (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Scott Lively poised to cause more anti-gay persecution | An odious letter to the Russian people (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Video | Uganda LGBTI Activist Speaks out at Courthouse after Scott Lively Hearing (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Large crowd of U.S. Gay Activists at MA Federal Court to Support Ugandan Gays against Pastor Scott Lively (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Why we must attend the SMUG v. Scott Lively Lawsuit in Court January 7, 2013 (oblogdeeoblogda.me)