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Anti-Gay
Billboard Suit
Likely To
Go To Supreme Court
by
365Gay.com August 9, 2006
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New York City -- A
conservative pastor who is battling Staten Island for ordering the removal of a
billboard containing a Biblical condemnation of homosexuality says he is
prepared to take the fight all the way to the US Supreme Court.
A three judge federal appeals panel is hearing his appeal of a ruling last
November dismissing his case.
The Rev. Kristopher Okwedy says the billboard message is protected under his
constitutional right to practice his religion. He is being represented by
a lawyer furnished by the American Family Association.
Attorney Stephen Crampton said the case highlights the conflict between gay
rights and the right of Christians to publicly quote Bible passages that declare
homosexuality a sin.
In 2003 New York billboard company PNE removed the sign bought by Okwedy after
Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari wrote a letter of protest to the
company.
Okwedy paid PNE Media about $2,500 to design billboard signs that quoted a
passage from Leviticus: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with
womankind. It is abomination."
In his letter to PNE's president Molinari, a Republican, said "I want to inform
you that this message conveys an atmosphere of intolerance which is not welcome
in our borough." He went on to remind the company made a lot of money from
billboard signs in Staten Island.
Okinedy sued PNE for breach of contract but Federal Judge Nina Gershon dismissed
the suit.
Okwedy went to the Court Appeals Court which ordered the case revisited.
The court ruled that "Molinari's letter could be found to contain an implicit
threat of retaliation if PNE failed to accede to his requests."
Last November Gershon again dismissed the suit and Okwedy appealed to the Second
Circuit Court of Appeals which appointed a three judge panel to examine the
case.
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