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A New York judge has ruled that it can be defamatory to allege that someone is a homosexual. Courts in several other jurisdiction have issued contrary opinions for years.
In Yonaty v. Mincolla, 1003-2009, Broome County Supreme Court Justice Phillip R. Rumsey (See Profile) rejected the defendants' summary judgment motion, and held that the assertion of homosexuality constituted defamation. "While the law may, at some point, change in response to evolving social attitudes regarding homosexuality, the existing law in New York, as expressed by the Appellate Divisions, which this court is bound to follow, is that imputation of homosexuality constitutes defamation per se," Justice Rumsey wrote, citing 2007 Appellate Division, Second Department, decision Klepetko v. Reisman, 41 AD3d 551, which cites a 1984 case, Matherson v. Marchello, 100 AD2d 233.The above-linked article notes that while New York state repealed its anti-sodomy statute in 1980, the state Court of Appeals has never been asked to rule on whether calling somebody a homosexual is defamatory.
Weeks after he allegedly paid a $15M hush-money settlement to the four young men who accused him of sexual coercion, the wife of publicly anti-gay Bishop Eddie Long has reportedly moved out the house. Black Media Scoop has the dirt:
The latest bombshell has hit his home life. BMS has learned that Bishop Eddie Long’s wife, Vanessa allegedly packed up her bags and moved out of the $1.5million dollar home. Long married Vanessa Griffin in 1990. She worked on the Board of Directors for the Faith Academy. She also headed many ministries, mostly those dealing with women’s issues. They have 3 children together Edward, Jared, and Taylor. BMS has also learned that she allegedly took one of the children with her to stay at an undisclosed family members home! Our source says Vanessa allegedly agreed to stick by Long until the sex scandal drama was over and then she’d leave. This is Long’s second go around at the chapel of love. He married Dabara S. Houston in 1981 and they have one son together Eric Long.
"The Catholic Church has often affirmed that here is no 'right to adopt.' It is a privilege and responsibility to be granted only to those married couples who can demonstrate, through their loving, permanent commitment to each other, their ability to make a lifetime commitment to raising a child in the best environment possible. May God bless these shepherds, their flocks and their work, and continue to grant them strength as they weather the storm which will certainly follow their bold leadership. We gladly welcome this clear, public stance for truth, religious freedom, and for children." - Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, congratulating Illinois' Catholic bishops for their lawsuit demanding exemption from anti-discrimination laws.
It appears that Atlanta's Bishop Eddie Long has paid off the four young men who last year accused him of coercing them into totally gay homosexual sex. Long had regularly and viciously railed against LGBT people from his megachurch pulpit.
Barbara Marschalk, who represents New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and Long Fellows Youth Academy, said she anticipates " the lawsuits will be dismissed, with prejudice, by close of business tomorrow." B.J. Bernstein, who represents the four men who sued Long, New Birth and LongFellows, also confirmed the lawsuits had been settled. Neither side would comment further and settlement terms were unknown. According to Bernstein's office, neither she nor the plaintiffs -- Maurice Robinson, Jamal Parris, Anthony Flagg and Spencer LeGrande -- would be available for an interview "on this matter, now or in the future. "VIDEO: Once again, here's Cadillac Kimberly's now-classic rant upon hearing the news last fall. Totally NSFW and totally hilarious.
World Net Daily founder Joseph Farah says that he will be suing Esquire Magazine for posting a satirical claim that he had decided to pull the publication of Jerome Corsi's birther book, Where's The Birth Certificate?
On Wednesday, Esquire wrote:
In an exclusive interview, a reflective Farah, who wrote the book's foreword and also published Corsi's earlier best-selling work, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak out Against John Kerry and Capricorn One: NASA, JFK, and the Great "Moon Landing" Cover-Up, said that after much serious reflection, he could not go forward with the project. "I believe with all my heart that Barack Obama is destroying this country, and I will continue to stand against his administration at every turn, but in light of recent events, this book has become problematic, and contains what I now believe to be factual inaccuracies," he said this morning. "I cannot in good conscience publish it and expect anyone to believe it."The Esquire piece, which was not marked as satire until an update was posted several hours later, was picked up by numerous blogs. Farah rails: "I have concluded with attorneys who say we have an excellent chance of winning a lawsuit or lawsuits for the reckless disregard for the truth demonstrated by Mark Warren, Esquire and the Hearst Corporation in this matter. Personally, I think we should set our sights on taking ownership of Esquire. I think that would be a fair settlement. Obviously the magazine is in dire need of professional management."
NOTE: I came very close to posting about the Esquire piece, but luckily decided to check WND to see if they still had dozens of birther stories on the front page.
Los Angeles cop Sgt. Ronald Crump has won a $1M judgment in a lawsuit filed against the LAPD because of retaliation he suffered after complaining about anti-gay mistreatment by a superior.
Sgt. Ronald Crump sued the city last year, alleging that his direct supervisor at the Los Angeles Police Department Media Relations Section -- Lt. John Romero -- made derogatory remarks about his homosexuality. Romero, who has since been promoted to captain, allegedly described him as "the new Ruby minus the heels," in reference to the woman he replaced in the unit. On another occasion, Romero allegedly told him, "I was a religion major at Liberty University. Jerry Falwell would roll over in his grave if he knew I had hired you."
In 2006 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a resolution denouncing the Vatican as an "insulting and ignorant" foreign country "hatefully" meddling in the right of gay Americans to adopt children. That didn't go over so well with the local Catholic Church, who sued the city for violating the separation of church and state. Oh, the irony.
Last year the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Church had no standing to sue the city, sending them running to the U.S. Supreme Court, who yesterday rejected the case. Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue says he's disappointed, but that the lawsuit still had the effect of "taming" anti-Catholic sentiment in San Francisco. Hunky Jesus might disagree.
Victor Willis, the original "cop" in Village People, is suing the band for $1.5M in royalties. Willis left the band in 1980 and was later arrested several times for drug possession.
The village person penned the band's most infectious hits -- including "Y.M.C.A.," "Macho Man," "In the Navy," and "Go West" -- and deserves his fair share of the funky financial windfall, Willis claims in a federal lawsuit filed last week. Willis is suing Can't Stop Productions, which handles the rights to the band's songs. Willis was inspired to write "Y.M.C.A." after a clueless Morali asked him about why people went to the Y. The lyrical licks described "what it was like going into a new town and not having a lot of money and needing a place to stay," he said. Willis is still blown away by the heavy airplay of the disco ditty.Ray Simpson has performed as the cop since 1987.
A little damage control from Target: "Whether we're gay, straight, or identify any other way...we love whoever it is we love."
(Tipped by JMG reader Donald)
RELATED: Target has lost its lawsuit against the gay group it was trying to stop from collecting marriage equality petitions outside its San Diego stores.
Judge Barton said Target and its powerful law firm of Morrison & Foerster, which has offices globally, failed to show sufficient evidence that the big-box retailer’s business was suffering as a result of the petitioners. “This million-dollar law firm overreached in this case,” Watson said. “They got beat by a lawyer fresh out of law school and a volunteer lawyer.” Canvass For A Cause team members were out today at Target stores in Mission Valley in San Diego and in Encinitas. “We are celebrating our freedom of speech rights today,” Watson said.Target now has a track record of 121-1 against groups canvassing outside its California stores. They are expected to appeal today's ruling, their first such loss.
The Seventh Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's ruling against an Illinois woman who sued Wal-Mart for religious discrimination. According to the woman, she has a God-given right to scream anti-gay epithets at her coworkers. Gay City News reports:
According to the unsigned ruling, Tanisha Matthews, who describes herself as an Apostolic Christian, worked as an overnight stocker at a Wal-Mart store in Joliet, Illinois. While on a break, she took part in a heated conversation with other employees about God and homosexuality. Another employee who participated reported to management that Matthews was "screaming over her" that God does not accept gays, they should not "be on earth," and they will "go to hell" because they are not "right in the head." During a company investigation of the incident, five other employees confirmed that Matthews said gays are sinners who are going to hell. Wal-Mart managers considered these remarks to be "serious harassment" in violation of the company's "Zero Tolerance" harassment policy, which bars any conduct that could be interpreted as harassment on the basis of categories that include sexual orientation. Serious harassment is considered "gross misconduct" that is grounds for dismissal.The ruling observes: "If Matthews is arguing that Wal-Mart must permit her to admonish gays at work to accommodate her religion, the claim fails. Wal-Mart fired her because she violated company policy when she harassed a co-worker, not because of her beliefs, and employers need not relieve workers from complying with neutral workplace rules as a religious accommodation if it would create an undue hardship." The above-linked article notes that Christian legal groups have been ramping up claims of the right to proselytize in the workplace. Courts, so far, have largely disagreed.
Read the entire ruling.
Connecticut lawmakers says they are shocked by the Catholic Church's opposition to a proposed lifting of the statute of limitations on lawsuits for the sexual abuse of minors.
“I’m just so surprised they are opposing this. We certainly had the sense last year that they would not,” Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, said of the bill she proposed that eliminates the limitation on civil suits prospectively. Bills that would have removed any limitation on when a suit could be brought retroactively, aimed to a large extent at the childhood victims of Dr. George Reardon, a former physician at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, failed to go forward in 2009 and 2010. More than 100 lawsuits have been brought against Reardon, who died in 1998, and against St. Francis. Police say more than 50,000 slides of child pornography found in the home where Reardon once lived had belonged to the doctor, who practiced medicine at St. Francis for more than 30 years.Current Connecticut law permits lawsuits for 30 years after a minor victim's 18th birthday. One advocate for victims of childhood sexual abuse says that half of her clients come forward after the time limit has expired.
(Tipped by JMG reader Casey)
Over the last seven days...
Alabama: Pastor Barry Albert Cook charged with sexual abuse and torture of a child.
South Carolina: Pastor Jonathan Roberts charged with felonious theft of church money.
New York: Father Thomas Kreiser charged with using $25K in church donations for online gambling.
Wisconsin: Pastor Philip Caminiti charged with eight felony counts of child abuse for beating children as young as two months old.
Oklahoma: Pastor Vincent Brookfield charged with seven felony counts of molesting a seven year-old girl.
North Carolina: Pastor Paul Burke Johnson charged with four counts of sexual battery on a mentally impaired woman.
Iowa: Pastor Patrick Edouard charged with raping three women in his congregation.
Utah: Pastor Aaron Witcher sentenced to five years to life in prison on two counts of rape of a minor.
Pennsylvania: Father Ralph Johnson sentenced to four years in prison for child molestation. Johnson is 84.
New York: Rabbi Saul Kassin confesses to multimillion dollar money laundering scheme involving sales of human organs and counterfeit handbags.
Florida: Teacher at private Christian school charged with beating a 12 year-old boy unconscious with a broomstick.
Wisconsin: Father Joseph Gibbs charged with fondling a teenage girl. Gibbs allegedly threatened to sue the girl's family if she told.
Illinois: Imprisoned child molester Father Donald McGuire reveals evidence that his parish knew of his crimes and did nothing.
This Week's Winner
Oregon: In one of the largest settlements ever paid by a religious group, Northwest's Jesuits have agreed to pay $166M to nearly 500 victims of sexual abuse by priests. Most of the victims are Native Americans abused as children at Jesuit parish schools across the Pacific northwest and in Alaska. The settlement, which will largely be paid by an insurance company, is part of a bankruptcy reorganization plan.
Saying that they are annoying the customers, Target has filed suit against an LGBT group that has been gathering marriage petitions outside its San Diego locations.
Target says that the gay group’s activists regularly canvass outside eight San Diego stores and refuse to leave when asked. The retailer says it receives around a dozen complaints every day from shoppers angry at the campaigners. But Canvass For A Cause, which asks people to sign gay marriage petitions, claim Target wants to silence it because it is against gay rights. Director Tres Watson told AP: “It’s very David vs Goliath. We understand they’re the Goliath in the room. They’ve got all money in world to get us to stop talking about gay marriage.” He added that volunteers are trained to be polite and professional and that shopping centres have been recognised as public places where freedom of speech is protected.The court case begins today.
RELATED: Despite an ongoing boycott by some gay consumers and the collapse of an exclusive deal with Lady Gaga over the company's political donations, openly gay GLAAD honoree Ricky Martin performed this week for Target executives.
After the Fort Worth police and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission staged a widely criticized raid of the Rainbow Lounge in June 2009, authorities from both organizations admitted wrongdoings that resulted in the firings of three TABC officers and a rewriting of the rules regarding nightclub raids. Now the Fort Worth city attorneys are recommending a $400,000 settlement with Chad Gibson, the Rainbow Lounge patron who suffered a brain injury after being thrown to the ground by police.
"In light of the circumstances, city staff believes proceeding with this settlement is the right thing to do, not only to bring closure to those involved but also to prevent lengthy and even more costly litigation," Jason Lamers, a city spokesman, said Friday. Lamers said the city has also agreed to pay $40,000 to another patron, George Armstrong, who said he suffered a torn rotator cuff during his arrest for public intoxication at the bar. Because the settlement is for under $50,000, council authorization is not needed, he said. Don Tittle, the civil attorney for Gibson and Armstrong, said all parties have worked together for months to reach a resolution without a lawsuit. "Everybody worked toward a resolution that was fair," Tittle said. "I thought that the city, at least in this regard, they recognized that there was significant legal exposure. I think there was also just an element where they felt like it was, on some level, just the right thing to do." Tittle said Gibson is still seeking treatment for injuries. "He had some significant injuries and is still getting treated and will be for quite some time," Tittle said.An internal police investigation had concluded that no excessive force was used during the raid. But they're going to pay anyway, apparently.
"If you're a man. Come. And join us. Bring your friends." (Also: "Make sure you bring an offering worthy of the Lord.")
(Via - Rod 2.0)
A New York state appeals court has ruled that a gay man married in Canada has the right to inherit the estate of his late husband, despite claims by the husband's family that their marriage was invalid.
While same-sex couples can't wed in the state, J. Craig Leiby and H. Kenneth Ranftle were legally married in Canada, so Leiby is entitled to recognition as the surviving spouse in a dispute over Ranftle's estate, the appellate judges said. Ranftle died Nov. 1, 2008. His brother Richard contested the will and challenged the legitimacy of the marriage, saying it violated state policy.But the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division wrote, "New York's long-settled marriage recognition rule affords [recognition] to out-of-state marriages" that are valid where they are made.And once again we thank former Gov. David Paterson!
Full text of the court's ruling.
A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by Pat Robertson which was intended to allow people to exempt themselves from buying health insurance because God is going to cure all their illnesses.
Three of the plaintiffs — Margaret Peggy Lee Mead of Hillsborough, N.C., Charles Edward Lee of San Antonio and Susan Seven-Sky of West Harrison, N.Y. — are Christians who said they want to refuse all medical services for the rest of their lives because they believe God will heal their afflictions. They say being forced to buy insurance would conflict with their faith because they believe doing so would indicate they need "a backup plan and (are) not really sure whether God will, in fact, provide," the lawsuit said.Robertson himself did not depend on the grace of Jeebus when he underwent ten hours of open heart surgery in 2009.
(Tipped by JMG reader Paul)
Scam artist "faith healer" and mega-millionaire Pastor Benny Hinn is being sued by a Christian book publisher who says Hinn violated the "immorality" clause in their contract when he had an adulterous affair with fellow preacher Paula White.
In August, Hinn admitted to a friendship with evangelist Paula White after The National Enquirer published photos of them in Rome, holding hands. Hinn was married at the time. His wife, Suzanne, had filed for divorce a few months earlier. Three years earlier, Hinn had signed a three-book deal with Strang Communications Co. of Lake Mary. He was paid a $300,000 advance on the first one, "Blood in the Sand," according to the suit. Hinn acknowledged to his publisher "his inappropriate relationship" with White in August, according to the suit, and agreed that the publisher should get back its money, but he has yet to pay up.Hinn is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions, money largely scraped out of the Social Security checks of the gullible elderly and the desperately ill. He travels the world in a $36M personal Gulfstream jet in between stays at his numerous opulent mansions.
A New Jersey woman has filed a $5M class action lawsuit against NYC-based discount retailer Century 21 because when she returned items for a cash refund, she didn't get 80 cents in credit for the coupon she'd used when making the original purchase.
In Manhattan federal court papers, Tova Gerson claims she used a coupon, good for $5 off a $50-or-more purchase during a Jan. 10 shopping spree at Century 21's Paramus, NJ, store. Gerson plunked down a total of $106.82, before tax, for items that included faux-suede moccasins, a child's dress, stuffed toy and little girls' lace tights, underwear and T-shirts, according to the filing. But then, on Jan. 19, Gerson returned a $17.97 kid's ensemble, claiming it was the wrong color, the filing states. Century 21 refunded her money -- minus the 80 cents she'd saved, on a pro-rated basis, by using the discount coupon. Gerson, a hat designer who sells her creations from her suburban home, flipped her lid. Century 21's take-back, she claims, deprived her of the "full benefit" of the $5-off coupon.Gerson's suit was filed by her lawyer father, who makes his living suing retailers over similar "coupon schemes." According to the above-linked story, some retailers have settled out of court rather than deal with the lawsuits.
Conservative website mogul and GOProud backer Andrew Breitbart is being sued by former USDA official Shirley Sherrod for his campaign to falsely discredit her. Via Salon:
The suit stems from the notorious video Breitbart posted online last year, showing an out-of-context excerpt from a speech Sherrod gave to the NAACP Freedom Fund in March 2010. The clip suggested she had used her position at the Department of Agriculture to discriminate against white farmers. The media devoured the Breitbart's version of story so voraciously that the NAACP denounced Sherrod and the Obama administration fired her. The charge was, in fact, entirely untrue. Sherrod argues in the lawsuit that the clip "damaged her reputation and prevented her from continuing her work." Breitbart, meanwhile, denounced the suit, saying he "categorically rejects the transparent effort to chill his constitutionally protected free speech."Breitbart has issued a press release declaring that he is "absolutely confident of being fully vindicated."
