Tue 9 Dec 2014 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Scott Lively has been travelling to Uganda and meeting with influential political figures since 2002 and has become something of a celebrity among anti-gay leaders. An appeals court has refused to dismiss a case against a fiercely homophobic American evangelist, who has been ordered to stand trial for crimes against humanity over the hand he’s accused of playing in whipping up hatred in Uganda. The case is being brought against Scott Lively by Sexual Minorities Uganda, with the backing of the Center for Constitutional Rights. It’s the first sexuality-based lawsuit using a statute which allows foreign parties to sue in American courts. The US First Circuit Court of Appeal has refused his bid to have the case against him dismissed on free speech grounds. “Although it is debatable whether the district court has properly parsed the petitioner’s protected speech from any unprotected speech or conduct, his right to extraordinary relief is not clear and indisputable,” the judge reads. An earlier ruling that persecution of lgbt people is a crime against humanity set a clear precedent that says the fundamental human rights of lgbt people are protected under international law. Sexual Minorities Uganda alleges Lively’s actions in Uganda over the past ten years have led to the persecution, torture, arrest and murder of gay people in the country. Lively’s accused of engineering the nation’s now defunct anti-gay law, and recommending Russia’s ‘gay propaganda’ law. He has been travelling to Uganda and meeting with influential political figures since 2002 and has become something of a celebrity among anti-gay leaders. In March 2009 Lively and other American evangelicals ran a three-day conference in Uganda the ‘Seminar on Exposing the Homosexual Agenda’. In 2007, Lively toured 50 cities in Russia where he is accused of recommending a ban on 'gay propaganda'. He also co-authored The Pink Swastika, which claims gay people invented the Nazi movement and the rainbow flag is a symbol of the “end times”.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 9th December 2014 - 8:43am