November 9, 2016
Group Asks for Lawsuit Against Evangelist to Go to Trial
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An East African advocacy group has argued that a lawsuit accusing a Massachusetts evangelist of waging a long campaign to persecute gays in Uganda should be allowed to move forward.
On Wednesday, Sexual Minorities Uganda urged a federal judge to allow its suit against minister Scott Lively to go to trial. The group, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, filed the suit in 2012 under a statute that allows non-citizens to file U.S. court actions for violations of international law.
Lively's Springfield church is known as Redemption Gate Mission Society.
Lively says he has preached against homosexuality, but advised therapy, not punishment.
The judge did not immediately rule during a hearing in U.S. District Court on Lively's request for summary judgment to keep the case from going to trial.
