{"id":934,"date":"2018-05-01T23:02:30","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T03:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=934"},"modified":"2018-04-30T23:04:42","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T03:04:42","slug":"antigay-springfield-pastor-fighting-charlie-baker-and-gay-ugandans-in-federal-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=934","title":{"rendered":"Antigay Springfield pastor fighting Charlie Baker \u2014 and gay Ugandans in federal court"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0Joshua Miller<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>GLOBE STAFF\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>

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Controversial pastor Scott Lively, whom Republicans this weekend catapulted into contention for the GOP nomination for governor, is embroiled in an active federal lawsuit in which he was accused of conspiracy to deprive gay people in the East African nation of Uganda of their fundamental human rights.<\/p>\n

A judge last year called<\/a>\u00a0Lively\u2019s efforts and writings against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people \u201codious\u201d and \u201ccrackpot bigotry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question before the court is not whether Defendant\u2019s actions in aiding and abetting efforts to demonize, intimidate, and injure LGBTI people in Uganda constitute violations of international law. They do,\u201d wrote US District Judge Michael A. Ponsor. It\u2019s a view Lively vociferously disputes.<\/p>\n

The case \u2014 now pending before the US Court of Appeals in Boston \u2014 was publicly known before Saturday\u2019s Republican convention but was not part of the public deliberations when nearly 30 percent of GOP delegates backed Lively over Governor Charlie Baker. Yet Lively\u2019s opinions about gay people will likely be front and center during the primary campaign.<\/p>\n

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Already Baker has said many of Lively\u2019s views should have no place in public discourse.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u201cI\u2019m no fan of his position on gay rights, and I\u2019ll just start there,\u201d he added Monday.<\/span><\/form>\n<\/div>\n

Lively was sued by Sexual Minorities Uganda, a gay rights organization but he won the first round of the Uganda case last year. The judge dismissed the lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds, but in an unusual legal twist, Lively is now appealing the ruling in his favor.<\/p>\n

Given that Ponsor decided the court did not have jurisdiction over the matter, Lively argues, the judge did not have the authority to opine on the merit of the underlying allegation \u2014 that he aided and abetted a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n

Lively\u2019s lawyers believe they have a good case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think the law is very clear: A court that lacks jurisdiction to determine the merits of the case cannot determine the merits of the case. It seems pretty simple,\u201d said Horatio G. Mihet, Lively\u2019s lead attorney from the nonprofit Liberty Counsel, which is representing the pastor free of charge.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Mihet said, Lively has always maintained the accusations are based on fiction.<\/p>\n

But the lawyers for Sexual Minorities Uganda say Lively\u2019s appeal has no merit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an absurd situation he\u2019s created, appealing his win to censor the judge\u2019s language,\u201d said Pamela C. Spees, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs and a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is representing the group for free.<\/p>\n

Oral arguments for the appeal are scheduled for June 7.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, first filed in 2012, is drawing new attention after Lively won enough support \u2014 28 percent of delegates \u2014 at the state GOP convention on Saturday to gain access to the Sept. 4 primary ballot. Lively says he is on track to submit the 10,000 signatures he needs to get to the secretary of state next month to be on the ballot.<\/p>\n

Party insiders had expected Lively to fall short of garnering the 15 percent of delegates he needed to win ballot access.<\/p>\n

But after a fiery speech in which Lively emphasized his conservative credentials and did not mention gay people \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m 100 percent pro-life. I\u2019m 100 percent pro-Second Amendment. I stand on the original intent of the Constitution. I\u2019m 100 percent pro-Trump\u201d \u2014 he ended up getting the votes of 626 delegates.<\/p>\n

After the balloting, several said they were animated by dismay over Baker\u2019s moderate views rather than any positions held by Lively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was: Delegates who are conservative are just fed up,\u201d said Mary Lou Daxland, a delegate from Westport who voted for Lively and is president of the conservative Massachusetts Republican Assembly.<\/p>\n

Daxland ticked through a multitude of complaints, from Baker\u2019s opposition to many of President Trump\u2019s policies to the governor\u2019s decision to sign a transgender public accommodations bill into law in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people feel: Why do we even have a Republican governor if he\u2019s going to be pushing the Democrat agenda,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But Lively\u2019s views on gay people are poised to be in the limelight.<\/p>\n

In a sworn declaration made as part of the lawsuit in 2016, Lively makes what he sees an important distinction:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am joyfully compelled by Jesus Christ to love as individuals all persons who identify as homosexual or commit the sin of homosexuality,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHowever, I am strongly opposed to the gay agenda because I believe the agenda is a threat to the continuation of historically Judeo-Christian, marriage-based civilization as God designed and intended it for the benefit of mankind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Springfield pastor, who founded the Abiding Truth Ministries, says he has always been opposed to violence against or ridicule or vilification of people who identify as homosexual.<\/p>\n

But Ponsor\u2019s 2017 decision \u2014 hailed by the plaintiffs even as their complaint was dismissed and disparaged by the defendant even as he was victorious \u2014 paints a different picture.<\/p>\n

Ponsor ruled Lively \u201caided and abetted a vicious and frightening campaign of repression against LGBTI persons in Uganda,\u201d and the judge said Lively \u201cworked with elements in Uganda who share some of his views to try to repress freedom of expression by LGBTI people in Uganda, deprive them of the protection of the law, and render their very existence illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs in the case had tried to connect Lively\u2019s visits to Uganda, his speeches there, and his work with activists to persecution of gay people.<\/p>\n

Among other books, Lively is the author of \u201cThe Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party,\u201d a revisionist history that alleges the Nazi party was controlled by gay men who hid their sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

Ponsor pointed to Lively\u2019s writings, saying he \u201chas tried to make gay people scapegoats for practically all of humanity\u2019s ills\u201d \u2014 views that the judge calls \u201ccrackpot bigotry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the judge ruled that Lively\u2019s actions did not meet the necessary legal standard to be heard in a US court.<\/p>\n

Globe correspondent Matt Stout contributed to this report. Joshua Miller can be reached at\u00a0joshua.miller@globe.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Joshua Miller\u00a0GLOBE STAFF\u00a0\u00a0MAY 01, 2018 Controversial pastor Scott Lively, whom Republicans this weekend catapulted into contention for the GOP nomination for governor, is embroiled 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