Case 3:12-cv-30051-MAP Document 116 Filed 03/06/14 Page 1 of 3

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS SPRINGFIELD DIVISION SEXUAL MINORITIES UGANDA, Plaintiff, v. SCOTT LIVELY, individually and as president of Abiding Truth Ministries, Defendant. : : : : : : : : : : CIVIL ACTION 3:12-CV-30051-MAP JUDGE MICHAEL A. PONSOR MAGISTRATE JUDGE NEIMAN

DEFENDANT SCOTT LIVELYS RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFFS LETTER TO MAGISTRATE JUDGE NEIMAN The March 5, 2014 letter (dkt. 108) filed by Plaintiff Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) is nothing more than a transparent attempt to sway these proceedings with inadmissible hearsay and rank speculation. SMUGs chosen mechanism to caution the Court about the hearsay gossip of media bloggers is a procedural nullity that admittedly does not ask the Court to do anything. Having spent much effort and paper in the debate leading up to the Protective Order speculating about the would-be contents of the yet-unsigned Ugandan law, SMUG now advises the Court that the debated provisions never made it into the actual law. Nevertheless, SMUG asserts that a law was indeed signed by Ugandas President on February 24, 2014, and provides a version of it for the Courts review. SMUGs version, however, is unsourced, unsigned, unauthenticated, and, as obvious from the missing dates on page 3, still in draft form. At this point, these deficiencies are more academic than material because SMUG is not asking the Court to do anything with its filing.

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SMUG apparently does want the Court to be aware of out-of-court statements made about Ugandas law. SMUG does not point the Court to Scott Livelys public statements denouncing the law as unduly harsh, nor to his statements condemning the outing of homosexuals by Ugandan tabloids and praising Ugandan courts for punishing those publications. Instead, SMUG submits for the Courts reading some rank and unadulterated speculation about how this law will impact Ugandans, published by such highly respected Internet bloggers as one Mother Jones. These articles contain yet more hearsay about what the authors have read in other secondary sources. SMUGs strategy remains transparently clear. SMUG has no hope of ever proving with admissible evidence that, during his brief visit to Uganda in 2009, Scott Lively so overpowered the people, the legislature and the President of that sovereign nation, that the law they just enacted now, five years later, over his stated objections, was actually the product of his criminal will. Instead, SMUG will pepper the record with unsubstantiated hearsay from Mother Jones and others, in the hope that its evidentiary problems will be overlooked. And, since SMUG cannot find in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or the local rules of this Court any procedural mechanism for bringing its non-motion hearsay to the Courts attention, SMUG settles for a letter, addressed personally to the Court. SMUGs letter is procedurally and substantively improper. The Courts docket should be reserved for pleadings and motions, filed by parties who are actually asking the Court to take action, on the basis of admissible evidence. It should not be used by SMUG to provide the parties and the Court with light afternoon reading of Mother Jones musings. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide a mechanism for SMUG to reserve its rights as to this Courts rulings, and it does not include writing letters to the Court.

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Defendant respectfully requests that the Court strike SMUGs letter from the record, and that the Court forego the hearsay materials referenced by SMUG.

Respectfully submitted, Philip D. Moran (MA Bar # 353920) 265 Essex Street, Suite 202 Salem, Massachusetts 01970 Tel: (978) 745-6085 Fax: (978) 741-2572 Email: philipmoranesq@aol.com /s/ Horatio G. Mihet________________ Mathew D. Staver Admitted Pro Hac Vice Stephen M. Crampton Admitted Pro Hac Vice Horatio G. Mihet Admitted Pro Hac Vice LIBERTY COUNSEL P.O. Box 540774 Orlando, FL 32854-0774 800-671-1776 Telephone 407-875-0770 Facsimile court@lc.org Attorneys for Defendant Scott Lively

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing was filed electronically with the Court on March 6, 2014. Service will be effectuated by the Courts electronic notification system upon all counsel or parties of record.

/s/ Horatio G. Mihet________________ Horatio G. Mihet Attorney for Defendant Scott Lively