I’m quite surprised (but pleased) that the case is being allowed to proceed. That in itself is perhaps something of a ‘victory’.

In advance of the ruling, Lively has set out something of a ‘stall’ in a ‘rebuttal’ of ‘leftist propagand’ that is full of factual errors about the Bahati Bill – errors that will be easy to highlight by reference to the text of the Bill. At least he admits that the death penalty is still there, which is something, I suppose.

I wrote to him to point out his errors (as well as to say that the fact a particular law might not be consistently applied – Lively talks in his ‘rebuttal’ of laws not being applied as harshly as they might be – is irrelevant).

To add further further ‘obfuscation’, he claims not to support the Bill while suggesting that it might be necessary – by citing ‘sex tourism’ (why then is the Bill so clearly aimed at UGANDANS?).

It’s a very muddled document; if it indicates how he intends to defend himself, he could be in real trouble.

Here it is: http://www.scottlively.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Fact-Sheet-on-Uganda.pdf

(Another piece of hokum is the suggestion that ‘the people of Uganda’ have been ‘slandered’ by opponents of the Bill. Not so: the guilty ones have been carefully targeted and generalizations about Ugandans avoided. In any event, the case against him was brought by Ugandans.)

And since this is a civil case, Lively will have to give a deposition and be required to testify under oath. It will be interesting to see how he responds when he can’t simply ignore the questions he is asked.

Bull Connor and George Wallace

StraightGrandmother = Bull Connor is an excellent analogy. George Wallace did repent and change in his old age.

Here read some Wiki on Wallace-

In the late 1970s, Wallace announced that he was a born-again Christian and apologized to black civil rights leaders for his earlier segregationist positions. He said that while he had once sought power and glory, he realized he needed to seek love and forgiveness.[note 3] In 1979, Wallace said of his stand in the schoolhouse door: “I was wrong. Those days are over, and they ought to be over.”[4] His final term as governor (1983–1987) saw a record number of black appointments to state positions.[52] In his fourth term, Wallace became the first governor to appoint two black members in the same cabinet, a number that has been equaled but never surpassed.

That is indeed what I have heard. I was hoping that Lively would either confirm or deny this here on this blog, but he seems to have chosen to remain silent (which is perhaps understandable, given that he is now the object of legal action).

We should not forget the other atrocious aspects of the draft ‘Bahati’ Bill that do not involve the hangman’s noose (at least for the first so-called ‘offence’): prison and/or fines for those who speak up for the rights of LGBT people (a vicious attack on freedom of speech and assembly); prison and/or fines for those who do ‘shop’ LGBT persons to the authorities; prison for those who are deemed to ‘aid or abet homosexuality’ (this could mean friends, family, landlords, lawyers, … linked with LGBT persons being sent to prison); etc.

(It appears that the Bill may have ‘stalled’ yet again; the 45 days for the relevant parliamentary committee to produce its report is almost up, although perhaps there could be another ‘push’ in the next few days …)

(The ‘you must be an informant’ clause was recommended for dumping by the Tashobya committee last May, but has not yet been dropped by the Ugandan Parliament. The same committee KEPT death by hanging for some consensual acts, but just changed the words – probably in an effort to ‘trick’ waverers who were not conversant with the implications of the wording proposed.)

As I have pointed out on this blog before (but think it is worth pointing again and again), Bahati himself has now allegedly admitted (to the New York Times) that he was ‘inspired’ by white extremists in the USA (Bahati allegedly spoke of having been ‘abandoned’ by many of them, having received encouragement and support in the early days of his slaughter project).

Mr. Lively, Please feel free to offer the entire transcript of your remarks in Uganda. I have seen the footage in context and it doesn’t change anything. But if you think it does, you should post the video and transcript somewhere.

I have never stated that David Kato’s murder had anything directly due to you, and I addressed your recommendations about forced therapy back when you made them. To my knowledge, you have never addressed what would happen to people in your paradigm who did not take the “offer” of government sponsored ex-gay therapy.

The complaint alleges that (Scott) Lively (Pastor & Head of Abiding Truth Ministries) specifically sought out Uganda to further his agenda, knowing that Uganda was fertile ground to “meaningfully provoke and bring about the persecution of the LGBT community.” It connects his actions, beginning with his 2002 visit to Uganda, to the escalation of anti-gay propaganda and persecution in Uganda, culminating with the Kill the Gays bill.

It is the first known sexual identity and gender discrimination suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which allows foreign victims to sue corporations, governments and individuals for human rights violations.

Lively’s attorneys sought to get the case dismissed on a variety of claims, including that the plaintiffs had no standing, the Alien Tort Statute did not apply, and everything he said was protected by the First Amendment.

In a ruling last week, a federal judge disagreed, saying that because his activities occurred both in the United States and Uganda, the plaintiffs had standing, including jurisdictional. Furthermore, Lively’s actions went beyond speech and noted deliberate activity to deny LGBT people basic individual rights.

From Care 2

But widespread ‘publicity’ has already been achieved … and, in the attached article, Lively sounds rather ‘defensive’: http://online.wsj.com/article/AP7d2dac4f73b34baf912f4ee60091ca12.html

He (Lively) is quoted as saying, “Most of the ostensibly inflammatory comments attributed to me are from selectively edited video clips of my 2009 seminars in Kampala. 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.”

The ‘ostensibly inflammatory comments’ (I’ll say!) allegedly include such ‘gems’ as comparing these human rights activists and other LGBT people to paedophiles, Nazis and those who perpetrated the genocide in Rwanda. His reported comments seem to amount to an admission that he DID say such things (and if he said them, he said them, regardless of whatever else he might have said). Getting such behaviour firmly into the public domain is, of itself, useful.

Another useful ‘signal’ from all this is that it reminds these religious extremists that they are not above the law. (I think they often see themselves that way, despite Saint Paul’s ‘reminders’ to the contrary.)

(The article has also got it wrong about the death penalty provision; the Bill has not [yet] been amended, so the death penalty for consensual sex still remains in place – something we should not forget as we continue our campaign against it.)

The Supreme Court, SCOTUS, already has a case they are hearing under that same Tort Law. And according to SCOTUS Blog, the court after Oral Arguments, the Court decided to push this back and re-hear it again next term, “It is quite unusual for the Court, after briefing and argument on a case, to put it over until its next Term. ” This article on SCOTUS blog explains it

http://www.scotusblog.com/?p=140230

Of course, telling lies about people is not a ‘frivolous’ matter.