Criticize ‘gays,’ get sued for ‘crime against humanity’
Judge: 'Premature' to say pastor's
biblical perspective protected by First Amendment
What could be more boring to
Americans than the latest news about a lawsuit brought by a group of political
activists in Uganda?
Especially since the case is currently in the mind-numbingly boring stage of
endless interrogatories and depositions?
But this is no ordinary case.
The defendant, Pastor Scott Lively
of Abiding Truth Ministries, says Americans need to be paying very close
attention, because the outcome could well set a new precedent – that an
international agenda based on anti-biblical standards could trump the U.S.
Constitution’s freedom of speech and religion.
While the case’s current
back-and-forth questions and answers will last another year, during which time
an appellate court could intervene, Lively told WND the dispute is over whether
a pastor can publicly criticize behavior that the Bible also criticizes.
U.S. District Judge Michael Posner has allowed to proceed a
case brought against Lively by an African group called Sexual Minorities
Uganda, or SMUG.
SMUG demands Lively be punished
for criticizing homosexuality, calling his speech a “crime against humanity” in
violation of “international law.” The plaintiffs allege the Alien Tort Statute
in the United States allows
them to make the charge in a U.S.
court.
But Lively’s attorney, Horatio
Mihet of Liberty Counsel, says his client’s preaching is protected by the
Constitution.
“We believe SMUG’s claims are
firmly foreclosed, not only by the First Amendment right to free speech, but
also by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kiobel, which eliminated Alien
Tort Statute claims for events that allegedly occurred in foreign nations,” he
said.
Yet, Posner took nearly 80 pages
to say that he thought SMUG’s allegations were substantive and needed to be
adjudicated.
Appearing to side with the
gay-rights plaintiffs, the judge writes that while SMUG is made up of groups
“that advocate for the fair and equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people,” Lively is an “American citizen residing
in Springfield, Mass., who, according to the complaint, holds himself out to be
an expert on what he terms the ‘gay movement.’”
Posner goes on to cite “many
authorities” who “implicitly support the principle that widespread, systematic
persecution of individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender
identity constitutes a crime against humanity.”
Arguing that concluding Lively’s
statements are protected under the First Amendment was “premature,” the judge
further wrote: “Indeed, defendant, according to the amended complaint, is
alleged to have maintained what amounts to a kind of ‘Homophobia Central” in Springfield. He has
allegedly supported and actively participated in worldwide initiatives, with a
substantial focus on Uganda,
aimed at repressing free expression by LGBTI groups, destroying the
organizations that support them, intimidating LGBTI individuals, and even
criminalizing the very status of being lesbian or gay.”
Lively sought to have the
complaint dismissed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch
Petroleum, that the Alien Tort Statute doesn’t apply to foreign territory and
that the law cannot be used to challenge foreign conduct in courts in the United States.
Mihet sums up the heart of the
case against Lively as being the belief that First Amendment free speech
protections should play second fiddle to an international consensus that
criticism of homosexuality is criminal.
Mihet told WND he has argued all
along that the lawsuit was precluded by the First Amendment, which puts the
U.S. Constitution higher than international law.
The case against Lively claims
that by speaking his opinion in opposition to homosexuality, he was conspiring
to deprive the plaintiffs of their fundamental rights. Mihet explained that although
SMUG would allow people to express an opinion against homosexuality, if
expressing that opinion causes anyone else to take any action, a crime might be
committed.
Under that precedent, he said,
someone petitioning in opposition to special designations for homosexuals would
become an international human rights criminal. Likewise, those who worked to
support Proposition 8 in California, the proposed state constitutional
amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman, would be subject to prosecution,
he said.
It also would target those who are
working to defeat the ENDA plan in Congress, which creates certain special
protections for homosexuals in the workplace.
“All of those become criminals
overnight under this theory of liability,” Mihat said.
Bottom line, SMUG’s attack on
Lively goes directly to the supremacy and portability of the U.S. Constitution,
say Lively’s attorneys.
“SMUG asks this United States court to punish one of its
citizens, Mr. Lively, for ‘crimes against humanity’ under an international
treaty that the United
States has expressly rejected,” a court
filing opposing SMUG’s case explained.
“Moreover, what SMUG cavalierly
and conclusorily labels as ‘crimes against humanity’ – the most heinous of
crimes – is actually nothing more than civil, non-violent political discourse
in the public square on a subject of great public concern, which occupies the
highest rung of First Amendment protection,” the brief said.
The extreme legal action was
prompted by Lively “sharing his biblical views on homosexuality during a 2009
visit to Uganda.”
While there may have been some
actions in Uganda against homosexuals, Liberty Counsel said, “SMUG alleges no
plausible connection between Mr. Lively and the actual perpetrators of those
alleged violent acts, and, indeed, Mr. Lively’s name is not mentioned one
single time within the many pages of the complaint that describe those six
events.”
SMUG is represented by the George Soros-funded Center for
Constitutional Rights in New
York, which the New York Times described as
left-leaning.
“[The Alien Tort Statute] is not a
blanket delegation of lawmaking to the democratically unaccountable
international community,” said Mathew Staver, Liberty Counsel founder. “Like
all American citizens, Rev. Lively enjoys a fundamental First Amendment right
to engage in nonviolent political discourses anywhere in the world.”
In addition, Liberty Counsel
contends the case against Lively has some glaring holes.
“SMUG also does not tell the court
that David Kato – the murdered Ugandan activist whom SMUG makes the centerpiece
of this lawsuit – was killed not by an enraged homophobe incited by Mr.
Lively’s protected speech, but by a homosexual prostitute upset over a failed
business transaction,” the organization said.
“Neither does SMUG tell the court
that the confessed perpetrator of this horrible crime was tried and convicted
in Ugandan courts, and is now serving a 30-year prison sentence.”
Finally, said Liberty Counsel SMUG
“does not tell the court that, far from inciting violence, Mr. Lively has
consistently condemned acts of violence and calls to violence in the strongest
possible terms, and has praised the Ugandan courts for imparting justice.”
Michael Posner
Michael Posner (lawyer)
Posner was born in Chicago, Illinois. He received a B.A. from the University of Michigan.
He received his J.D. from the University
of California, Berkeley Law
School (Boalt Hall). He
is a member of the California Bar (inactive)[1] and the Illinois Bar.[2] After
graduating, Posner spent a year
documenting atrocities committed in Uganda.
His work in Geneva
for the United Nations earned him esteem as a human-rights advocate.
Role in the International Justice
System and the International Criminal Court (ICC)
In 1998, Posner led the Human Rights First delegation to the Rome
conference at which the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was
adopted.
Note: Michael H. Posner
was the president of Human Rights First,
and an assistant secretary for
democracy & human rights for the U.S.
Department of State.
Harold
H. Koh was a director at Human
Rights First, a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and was the legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State for the Barack Obama administration.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for Human Rights First, the Brookings
Institution (think tank), the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Aspen Institute (think tank).
George
Soros was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
James
D. Zirin was a director at Human
Rights First, and is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Mark
A. Angelson was a director at Human
Rights First, and a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is the president of
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director
at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Olara
A. Otunnu was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), the minister of foreign affairs for Uganda,
and is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank).
Andrew Carnegie
was the founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), and provided seed funding for the International Court of Justice.
Hisashi
Owada is a judge for the International
Court of Justice, a director at the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), a director at the Better World Fund, a director at the United Nations Foundation, and was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Ted
Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), the founder & chairman for the Better World Fund, the chairman for the
United Nations Foundation, and the
founder of CNN.
Walter
Isaacson was the chairman & CEO for CNN, and is the president & CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
James S.
Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member
of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Lester Crown
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Michael K. Powell
is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is Colin L. Powell’s son.
Colin
L. Powell is Michael K. Powell’s
father, an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, and an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
Better World
Fund was a funder for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and
was a benefactor for the Human Rights
Watch.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think
tank), the International Rescue
Committee, Human Rights First,
and the Human Rights Watch.
Michael H. Posner
was the president of Human Rights First,
and an assistant secretary for
democracy & human rights for the U.S.
Department of State.
Arcus Foundation
was a funder for the Human Rights Watch.
Kevin Jennings is
an executive director for the Arcus
Foundation, was the founder & executive director for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network,
and the president & CEO for Be the
Change.
Michelle
Nunn was a board member for Be the
Change, is the candidate for the 2014
Michelle Nunn Senate campaign, and her father is Sam Nunn.
Michelle Nunn
Sam
Nunn is Michelle Nunn’s father,
and a co-chairman & CEO for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Andrew Carnegie
was the founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), and provided seed funding for the International Court of Justice.
Hisashi
Owada is a judge for the International
Court of Justice, a director at the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), a director at the Better World Fund, a director at the United Nations Foundation, and was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Ted
Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), the founder & chairman for the Better World Fund, the chairman for the
United Nations Foundation, and the
founder of CNN.
Walter
Isaacson was the chairman & CEO for CNN, and is the president & CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
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