SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (CN) - A Ugandan rights group claims in Federal Court that an evangelical minister organized a decade-long campaign "to persecute persons on the basis of their gender and/or sexual orientation and gender identity," including campaigning for a Ugandan law that makes homosexuality punishable by death.
Sexual Minorities Uganda sued Scott Lively, individually and as president of Abiding Truth Ministries, alleging conspiracy to commit the crime against humanity of persecution, in a joint criminal enterprise.
Sexual Minorities Uganda claims Lively, "a U. S.-based attorney, author, evangelical minister and self-described world-leading expert on the 'gay movement,'" instigated Ugandan politicians and anti-gay movement leaders to persecute Ugandan gay rights activists and demonize them in the media.
Lively has frequently depicted gay people as "genocidal", "psychopathic", "exceptionally brutal and savage" and as "child predators," according to the 47-page complaint.
"Lively proclaims himself one of the world's leading experts on 'the gay movement,' which he describes as an 'evil', 'highly organized army of social engineers with a single purpose' and 'the most dangerous social and political movement of our time,'" the complaint states. "He has written a number of books in support of his goal to deny the humanity of gays and lesbians and to strip them of their fundamental rights.
"In 'The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party,' he and his co-author argue that the rise of Nazism - with its resultant horrors - was engineered and driven by a violent and fascistic gay movement in Germany. In 'The Poisoned Stream,' he claims to have discovered, 'through various leads, a dark and powerful homosexual presence in other historical periods: the Spanish Inquisition, the French "Reign of Terror," the era of South African apartheid, and the two centuries of American slavery'. He has also written and published 'Redeeming the Rainbow,' which he describes as a comprehensive textbook that explains, among other things, 'the urgent, escalating and imminent danger this movement represents to all aspects of Christian civilization through the world' and identifies comprehensive strategies for how to combat it. Elsewhere, he has blithely attributed the genocide in Rwanda to the 'gay movement.'"
Founded in 2004, Sexual Minorities Uganda is an umbrella organization whose members advocate on behalf of sexual minorities and fight HIV/AIDS in homosexual communities.
"In large part due to defendant Lively's contributions to the conspiracy to persecute LGBTI persons in Uganda, plaintiff SMUG, as an entity, as well as its individual staff-members and member organizations, have suffered severe deprivations of fundamental rights," the complaint states. "Their very existence has been demonized through a coordinated campaign, which Lively has largely initiated, instigated and directed, to attribute to the 'genocidal' 'gay movement' an irrepressible predilection to commit rape and child sexual abuse. As set out in more detail below, they have endured severe discrimination in virtually every meaningful aspect of their civil and political lives; their association has been criminalized; their advocacy on issues central to their health and political participation has been suppressed and punished; and they have been subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. As a result, many individual members of SMUG and its constituent organizations live in persistent fear of harassment, arbitrary arrest and physical harm, including death."