Judge bans ads featuring ex-gays
A judge in London has banned bus ads sponsored by a Christian group, Core Issues Trust, proclaiming "Not gay! Ex-gay, post-gay and proud. Get over it!"
British-based Christian group Core Issues Trust had hoped to run the slogan...on the sides of London's famous double-decker buses, but in a 35-page ruling, High Court Judge Beverley Lang argued that the ad could be used to promote homophobic attacks, which trumps the group's freedom of expression.
"[The advert] was not a contribution to a reasoned debate," Judge Lang wrote, according to Reuters.
Core Issues Trust, however, says that they only want the same opportunity to express themselves as pro-gay activist groups, such as Stonewall, which last year ran ads that read "Some people are gay. Get over it!"
The Christian group says that the ruling is "likely to stifle open and free debate about homosexuality and discriminate against those who reject a 'gay' identity."
It should be noted that Britain has no First Amendment.
Intelligent gay people have sworn to me that there is no such thing as an ex-gay, that one's sexual behavior is hard wired, and that therefore therapies intended to help people who wish to stop homosexual behavior and live as heterosexuals are harmful. California has passed a law outlawing therapies aimed at this, and the law faces legal challenge on First Amendment grounds.
As a general rule, when a group seeks to suppress expression of opposing views, that is a good sign that it is not based on fact. I am no fan of the laws in various European countries which make Holocaust denial a crime.
But homosexualist doctrine is quite clear that nobody should be allowed to express the belief that some people want help leaving a homosexual lifestyle and deserve help in that endeavor. The opposite transition, from heterosexual to homosexual, on the other hand, is regarded as finding one's true nature.
Hat tip: Brian Demko