In Brief

Staff Reports

Scott Lively Responds To Ugandan Lawsuit Against Him For Anti-Gay Activities

Scott Lively

SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS -- In an interview published Thursday by the conservative Anti-LGBTQ website World Net Daily, Scott Lively, titular head of of Abiding Truth Ministries, told WND;

"I am an American citizen [being targeted] over the persecution of homosexuals as they define it as a crime against humanity – for speaking the truth of the Bible in a foreign country.” Lively went on to explain that "the definition of “crime against humanity” comes from European progressives, and the accusations appear to be based on his speeches and writings about the Bible’s perspective on homosexuality."

Lively had told the Associated Press in an interview Wednesday after the Federal Suit against him was announced that he believed the legal action was "absurd" and "completely frivolous." He said in an email to the AP that he has never advocated violence against homosexuals. He said he has preached against homosexuality but advised therapy for gays, not punishment.

Thursday he clarified his position telling WND:

“Frankly, I don’t this is actionable,” Lively told WND. “They make it clear that this suit is … premised on speeches or writings.

“I spoke to members of parliament in their assembly hall, and advised them to focus on therapy and not punishment [for homosexuality],” he said.

“What they’re suggesting here is that the duly elected legislative representatives of Uganda, the cream of Ugandan society, cannot be responsible for their own [legislative] actions – that they adopted legislation because a white evangelical came and said something to them,” he said.

Christian blogger and a long term critic of Lively's, Professor Warren Throckmorton reacted writing: 

If you read the suit, you will find that the other people who went to Uganda with Lively (Don Schmierer and Caleb Brundidge) are not being sued. Those guys put out some misinformation too and indicated their belief that homosexuality is a sin but did not tell the audience that gays animated the Jewish Holocaust and were probably behind the Rwandan genocide as well. Those men did not tell the Ugandan audience that the best way to overcome public sympathy for gays is to portray gays as recruiters and threats to children. Where does the Bible say that homosexuality is responsible for the Holocaust? For the Rwandan genocide? That gays are pedophiles? Are those Biblically based beliefs?

Lively also claims that a partial basis for the court action was selectively edited clips from a 2009 video recording of his participation in an anti-gay lecture series telling the AP;

"Most of the ostensibly inflammatory comments attributed to me are from selectively edited video clips of my 2009 seminars in Kampala," he said. "I challenge the plaintiffs and their allies to publish the complete footage of the seminar on the Internet. They will not do this or their duplicity would be exposed."

Jim Burroway, the Editor of the LGBTQ advocacy blog Box Turtle Bulletin, which has been closely following and documenting the anti-gay legislation and efforts in Uganda- in response to Lively's claims- noted:

"It’s my understanding that the Kampala-based Family Life Network, who sponsored the 2009 [seminar], owns the copyright to the video. While it is legal to publish excerpts of the video under the “fair use” clauses of U.S. copyright law, it would be illegal for anyone who is not the copyright owner to post the entire video. Why hasn’t Stephen Langa’s Family Life Network published the video? Who knows. It’s theirs to do as they wish. But by not publishing it, they leave the door open for Lively to complain about “selectively edited clips.”

Lively is being sued by the organization Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) under the alien tort statute, which allows foreigners to sue in American courts in situations alleging the violation of international law.

The suit, filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of SMUG, alleges that Lively has waged a “decade-long campaign … in coordination with his Ugandan counterparts, to persecute persons on the basis of their gender and/or sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Maryland Same-Sex Marriage Opponents Launch Ballot Referendum Petition Drive

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND -- Opponents to the Maryland law signed by Governor O'Malley last month that gives same-sex couples the right to marry in the state have officially begun their effort to overturn the law. Officials from Maryland Marriage Alliance announced Wednesday they have launched the petition drive to collect nearly 56,000 signatures that will be needed to bring the law to referendum on this November's ballot.

The Marriage Alliance, which is leading the referendum effort, is working with mdpetitions.com, the website developed last year by Neil Parrott, a Republican Maryland State Delegate, to collect signatures. Voters are able to visit the website to request that a petition form be mailed to them. The website uses information from state voter rolls to ensure a signer’s printed name and address will match Maryland records, a standard used by the state Board of Elections to validate the signatures.

Same-sex marriage advocates have also launched their own petition to gather support for upholding the equality marriage law. People who sign it will be pledging their support for same-sex marriage according to organizers of petition, however, that petition will not carry any legal weight.