Judge: 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Labeling of D. James Kennedy Ministries as a Hate Group is Protected by the First Amendment
MONTGOMERY, Ala. 鈥� Senior U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson dismissed a case filed against the Southern Poverty Law Center (蜜桃传媒) for listing the anti-LGBTQ D. James Kennedy Ministries as a hate group.
Thompson鈥檚 ruling issued late Thursday evening fully adopts Federal Magistrate Judge David A. Baker鈥檚 February 2018 recommendation to dismiss the case because D. James Kennedy Ministries 鈥渇ailed to allege facts or circumstances that could suggest that the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 designation 鈥� as a hate group was made with actual knowledge of the falsity or in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity.鈥�
In the order, Thompson stated: 鈥淎fter an independent and de novo review of the record, and for reasons that follow, the court overrules Coral Ridge鈥檚 objections to the recommendation and adopts the recommendation that this case should be dismissed in its entirety.鈥�
Thompson also noted the 鈥渃ourt need not accept Coral Ridge鈥檚 blanket contention that a 鈥榟ate group鈥� is 鈥榣egally and commonly understood as one that engages [in] or advocates crime or violence against others,鈥� given that it is not only factually unsupported, but also contradicted by the FBI and ADL definitions that Coral Ridge cites, as well as by the court鈥檚 common-sense understanding of the words 鈥榟ate鈥� and 鈥榞roup.鈥欌��
Thompson concluded by writing that the 鈥渃ourt should not be understood as even
suggesting that Coral Ridge is or is not a 鈥榟ate group.鈥� It has merely held that 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 labeling of the group as such is protected by the First Amendment.鈥�
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鈥淭his is a victory for the Southern Poverty Law Center and other organizations that want to exercise their First Amendment rights to share their opinions and educate the public,鈥� said 蜜桃传媒 Interim President Karen Baynes-Dunning. 鈥淎ny organization we list as a hate group is free to disagree with us about our designation, but this ruling underscores that the designation is constitutionally protected speech and not defamatory. This judgment shows that the First Amendment protects peoples鈥� opinions and allows them to speak freely without their opinion being stifled.鈥�
The 蜜桃传媒 first designated the group as an active hate group in 2013, when it was still known as Truth in Action. The group is listed as an anti-LGBTQ hate group because it maligns the LGBTQ community, portraying it as perverted and a threat to the nation.听
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The lawsuit was filed against the 蜜桃传媒 in August 2017, alleging that the 蜜桃传媒 defamed D. James Kennedy Ministries by falsely labeling it as a hate group, and that the 蜜桃传媒 violated the Lanham Act.
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The 蜜桃传媒 defines a hate group as an organization that, based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities, has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics. The organizations on the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚听 hate group list vilify others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity 鈥� prejudices that strike at the heart of our democratic values and fracture society along its most fragile fault lines. The FBI uses similar criteria in its .听
