Judge: Calling Someone Gay Not Libelous

BOSTON (AP) - Stating that someone is homosexual does not amount to libel or slander, particularly in light of new court decisions granting gays more rights, a federal judge has ruled.

Gertner said other courts' rulings that stating someone is homosexual is defamatory had relied on laws criminalizing same-sex sexual acts that might well be unconstitutional. Previous decisions hadn't taken into account more recent decisions recognizing gays' equal rights, she said.

She pointed to a Supreme Court ruling last year that found a Texas sodomy law unconstitutional, and to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling last year that it would be unconstitutional to prevent gays in the state from marrying.

Guardian Unlimited

"He called me gay!"
"Yeah, so what?"

This is an example to me of how the laws in the U.S. work as they should, regardless of how many people don't want to apply the ideals and morals of America to whomever they don't agree with. No matter how much you try to supress Americans liberties and rights, the mechanisms are in place to provide liberty and justice for all, at least every once and a while. This is like the church saying, "You know what, we can't deny it anymore, the earth is round."