FINALLY! 'GAYS' REVEAL AGENDA
AS SHUTTING UP CHRISTIANS, Homosexuals demand 'speech-chilling'
injunction 'against anything' pastor might say, by Bob Unruh, 12/10/16
It has taken years of court hearings,
tens of thousands of miles of air travel, tens of thousands of pages of court
documents, but it’s finally been revealed what the Sexual Minorities Uganda
(SMUG) group wants a federal court to tell a Christian pastor, author and
speaker. Shut up!
“Actually, and incredibly, yes,”
concludes the newest filing in the case SMUG brought against pastor Scott
Lively years ago. “SMUG unequivocally seeks a
speech-chilling injunction against anything Lively might say which SMUG finds
offensive, to hold over Lively like a club.” SMUG filed a case under the U.S.
Alien Torts Act alleging it has a right to use American courts to seek to
stifle the traditional family and Christian messages of Lively.
He’s being defended by Liberty Counsel, which,
by the sound of its latest filing, is getting tired of the arguments. Its response to the plaintiff’s
post-hearing memorandum on summary judgment contends there’s nothing to the
dispute.
“In its post-hearing memorandum
(dkt. 324-1) (‘SMUG Memo’), plaintiff Sexual Minorities Uganda (‘SMUG’)
attempts yet again to do that which it plainly could not do at the summary
judgment hearing, nor in its summary judgment opposition, nor in its
‘sur-reply’: (A) identify any specific actions of Defendant Scott Lively
(‘Lively’) in the U.S. that had a direct causal link to any alleged injury
suffered by SMUG in Uganda; and (B) identify any specific injunctive relief
that this court could even consider that would not violate the First Amendment.
“Although it is seemingly grasping at straws, SMUG still
offers nothing.” SMUG brought the case four years ago
and since then has attempted to “produce a shred of evidence to fit its
sensational claim that Lively committed ‘crimes against humanity’ – akin to
genocide and war crimes – by ‘conspiring’ to ‘persecute’ the LGBTI (lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) population in Uganda,” Liberty Counsel
said.
But SMUG did reveal its “secret
and corrupt goal to intimidate Lively into silence, along with any American
pastor with a heart for African families,” Liberty Counsel said. The legal group points to SMUG’s
request that the court enjoin, or prohibit, Lively “from selling or giving away
his books in Uganda.”
And “to enjoin Lively from going to
Uganda and preaching at Martin Ssempa’s church.” And “to enjoin Lively from
going to Uganda to speak to a group of high school students about what Lively
perceives to be the many and serious health hazards of homosexual conduct.” And
“to enjoin Lively from going to Uganda to train lawyers on how to use the law
to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage.” And ‘to enjoin Lively
from going to Uganda to lobby the Ugandan Parliament not to legalize same-sex
marriage.” In other words: shut him up.
“SMUG deems every pro-family
advocate in Uganda to be a ‘co-conspirator’ in a ‘criminal enterprise’ to
‘persecute’ the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex)
population of Uganda,” Liberty Counsel reported.
“Even after 100 hours of depositions
and 40,000 pages of documents, SMUG has no evidence whatsoever connecting Lively
to any act of so-called ‘persecution,'” said Mat Staver, founder of Liberty
Counsel. “SMUG has always claimed it was not trying to hold Lively liable for
his speaking and writing. Yet the more SMUG writes, the more obvious it becomes
that SMUG wants to punish Lively for his beliefs. “This is clearly a vendetta against
Lively for speaking about homosexuality and God’s design for the family in
Uganda,” said Staver.
In calling for a summary judgment on
behalf of Lively, Liberty Counsel said one of the offenses cited by SMUG
was that Lively emailed to friends a link to an article.
“If sending Internet links to others
lends ‘practical assistance’ to ‘crimes against humanity,’ those words mean
nothing,” the filing said.
SMUG also cited Lively’s comments “that
the dean of a Ugandan law school, Sylvia Tamale, should be fired or demoted
because she ‘teaches a course on gender in the law school in which she
reportedly expects students to adopt her pan-sexual ideologies.'”
But, Liberty Counsel noted, “Tamale
herself has submitted a declaration to this court in which she describes her
free and unrestricted advocacy on homosexual causes in Uganda, without any
mention of any attempts to fire or demote her from her job.”
“Calling for the resignation or
firing of public figures with whom one disagrees is protected First Amendment
expression, part and parcel of public debate, and an advocacy tool frequently …
employed by LGBT advocates,” it said.
“SMUG has been vague about the
injunction it wants because SMUG knows it has no legal basis for it. No matter
how offensive SMUG finds Lively, SMUG knows it cannot enjoin what it really
wants to enjoin – Lively’s ideas,” LC wrote.
Just weeks ago, Lively
was bludgeoned with some 1,000 pages of claims from SMUG, which is trying to find basis for its charge that
Lively’s actions are “crimes against humanity.”
“The evidence shows that Lively, in
a country where homosexuality has been illegal for decades, urged treatment of
LGBTI people with respect and dignity, and the liberalization of Uganda’s laws
against homosexuality, even as he spoke in favor of biblical sexual morality
and against the LGBTI political agenda,” his lawyers argued at the time.
“SMUG has now made it clear that it
wants to put Pastor Scott Lively’s Christian faith on trial,” said Liberty
Counsel’s Harry Mihet, chief litigation counsel and vice president of legal
affairs, at that time. “Every American should be concerned about this
unprecedented attempt to subjugate U.S. citizens and our Constitution to the
new ‘morality’ of the international left, and we should pray for a just and
decisive ruling from the court preserving our most cherished constitutional
freedoms of thought and expression.” SMUG’s claims of “crimes against
humanity” stem from Lively’s visits to Uganda in 2002 and 2009, when he
declared his biblical views.
SMUG’s “gay” claims are based on the
Alien Tort Statute, but the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the provision “cannot
be used to sue U.S. citizens alleging violation of international or foreign
law,” Liberty Counsel argued.
“Neither Ugandan nor U.S. law
provide a cause of action for SMUG, so SMUG is trying to create new precedent
to punish speech,” by Americans in America, the
legal team explained then.
Said Staver at the time: “The
implications of this suit are frightening because SMUG is trying to punish a
U.S. citizen for constitutionally protected speech under some vague and
undefined international law. From the beginning this case had no merit, but we
have had to spend four years and countless hours defending an innocent pastor
against a lawsuit designed only to intimidate. This case is a direct assault on
the supremacy of the United States Constitution.”
U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor
had rejected an earlier move to dismiss the allegations, made by the George
Soros-funded Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, which the New York
Times described as left-leaning.
Comments
It’s time
to repeal the Civil Rights Act and all other anti-discrimination laws to stop
the Gays and Muslims from destroying the US Constitution.
.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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