SOUTH CAROLINA: State Supreme Court Overturns Conviction For Anti-Gay Speech

The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a street preacher who was arrested and fined after screaming anti-gay epithets at a lesbian couple.

Greenville Circuit Judge Edward Miller had previously upheld Joseph D. Bane's 2008 conviction, but the Supreme Court said a city rule against remarks that “humiliate, insult or scare” was too vague. All five of the court's justices also agreed there was no evidence to convict Bane under other provisions of the ordinance. According to the opinion handed down Monday, Bane was fined $200 after preaching loudly against homosexuality in downtown Greenville and, according to testimony, calling two women “faggots” who would “burn in hell.” Bane's attorney, Samuel Harms, said the ruling means residents can once again “preach against homosexuality without the fear of being arrested by a city police officer.” Harms said the city should have realized its ordinance was unconstitutional and voluntarily dismissed the case.

City attorneys say the state Supreme Court ignored local ordinances on disturbing the peace. The ACLU says that while it "abhors" the preacher's message, it supports the high court's decision.

Former Michigan AG Andrew Shirvell: The Liberal Media Was Out To Get Me!

MICHIGAN: Assistant AG Andrew Shirvell May Be Disbarred For Anti-Gay Stalking

A complaint has been filed seeking the disbarment of Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell over his anti-gay harassment of UM student body president Chris Armstrong.

The complaint alleges Shirvell harassed and defamed Armstrong during what Gordon describes as a six-month campaign "of lies, dishonesty, heckling, hate speech and even job interference." The commission could disbar Shirvell if it investigates. "I could not stand by and let Mr. Shirvell continue his reckless, bullying behavior," Armstrong said in a statement. Shirvell already is fighting a ban from the U-M campus. And he faces a Friday disciplinary hearing in the Attorney General's Office.

Armstrong's attorney: "We just feel very strongly ... that you can't be a licensed attorney and an officer of the court and conduct yourself this way and essentially terrorize a college student."

University Of Michigan Student President Talks About Attacks From Andrew Shirvell

Tweet Of The Day - Andrew Shirvell

NOTE: In case it's not clear, this is a spoof account. And totally hilarious.

MICHIGAN: Andrew Shirvell Isn't Suspended, He's On A Leave Of Absence

The Detroit News has issued a correction to yesterday's story.

An assistant attorney general who has attracted national attention for a controversial blog that ridicules and denounces a University of Michigan student leader for his gay advocacy, religious beliefs and character has taken a personal leave following intense public scrutiny, a spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox said today. Cox spokesman John Sellek said, however, Andrew Shirvell will be the subject of a disciplinary hearing after he returns to work at an undetermined future date. Shirvell's decision to go on leave came a day after Cox told CNN he didn't intend to fire Shirvell, citing civil service rules that protect government employees from being "fired willy-nilly" for exercising their rights of free speech.

MICHIGAN: Andrew Shirvell Suspended

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has reversed his position and suspended Assistant AG Andrew Shirvell (left) after a national media outcry about Shivrell's cyber-harassment of openly gay University of Michigan student body president Chris Armstrong.

The suspension came a day after Cox told CNN he didn't intend to fire Shirvell, citing civil service rules that protect government employees from being "fired willy-nilly" for exercising their rights of free speech. Cox said he hadn't earlier read all of Shirvell's blog, "Chris Armstrong Watch," that dogs Armstrong, the 21-year-old, openly gay president of U-M's student government and accuses him of "anti-Christian behavior," "mocking God," promoting homosexuality and trying "to recruit your sons and daughters" into the gay lifestyle. "I'm at fault here," Cox said. "I've been saying for weeks that (Shirvell's) been acting like a bully, that his behavior is immature, but it's after-hours and protected by the First Amendment." But Cox also took a shot at Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who posted a Twitter item Thursday saying she would have fired Shirvell. "I don't know why she's so freaking irresponsible. ... she went to Harvard Law School," Cox said. "The civil service rules are a huge shield for free speech and she knows that."

The ACLU is backing Cox's opinion on Shirvell's First Amendment rights, saying they believe "the answer to hate speech is more speech."

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm Tweets...

Assistant Michigan AG Andrew Shirvell's Anti-Gay Harassment Goes Way Back

A reader writes to note that Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has been on an anti-gay campaign for years. From a 2005 news story:

Members of a local student-oriented Catholic parish received an e-mail last week urging them to boycott the New York Pizza Depot on East William Street because of a gay pride rainbow sicker on its front door. The sticker has upset some people, including Andrew Shirvell, an NYPD customer and member of St. Mary’s Student Parish, located down the street from NYPD. Shirvell, a University alumnus and former president of Students for Life, said the sticker is offensive because it endorses homosexuality instead of simply tolerating it. “I find the rainbow flag offensive because it is a symbol of the homosexual movement that, in my opinion, indicates a validation of the homosexual lifestyle, as opposed to a sign that indicates ‘openness’ to customers who are of the homosexual orientation,” he said.

Shirvell said the pizzeria "had to put up the rainbow flag decal in order to appease the homosexuals who frequented NYPD on Friday nights." No homosexual pizza! No homosexual cupcakes!

MICHIGAN: Assistant Attorney General To Keep Job Despite Anti-Gay Harassment

"Jumping Off The GW Bridge. Sorry."

The New York Times reports more details about the suicide of 18 year-old Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate streamed live video of Clementi having sex with a man. Clementi's final Facebook update: "Jumping off the gw bridge. sorry."

It started with a Twitter message on Sept. 19: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.” That night, the authorities say, the Rutgers University student who sent the message used a camera in his dormitory room to stream the roommate’s intimate encounter live on the Internet. [snip] The Middlesex County prosecutor’s office said Mr. Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, N.J., and another classmate, Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton Junction, N.J., had each been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for using “the camera to view and transmit a live image” of Mr. Clementi.

The most serious charges carry a maximum sentence of five years. Mr. Ravi was charged with two additional counts of invasion of privacy for trying a similar live feed on the Internet on Sept. 21, the day before the suicide. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, James O’Neill, said the investigation was continuing, but he declined to “speculate on additional charges.” Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, said Wednesday that he considered the death a hate crime. “We are sickened that anyone in our society, such as the students allegedly responsible for making the surreptitious video, might consider destroying others’ lives as a sport,” he said in a statement.

Ravi is claiming that the first broadcast of Clementi was an accident, but police say he attempted a second live-stream two days later. Last night police recovered the body of a red-headed young man from the banks of the Hudson River. The family will make the identification today.

NEW JERSEY: Rutgers Students Charged Over Suicide Of Gay Man After Secretly Live-Streaming Dorm Sex

Two Rutgers University students have been charged with invasion of privacy after secretly live-streaming video of a gay student having sex with a man in his dorm room. Reportedly the gay student then committed suicide.

Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, both 18, were charged with two counts of invasion of privacy after allegedly putting a camera in a fellow student’s room and transmitting a sexual encounter over the internet. Prosecutors said Ravi of Plainsboro tried to do the same thing to yet another classmate just days after the first incident. Wei, of Princeton, turned herself in Monday. Ravi was picked up Tuesday and released on $25,000 bail. Rutgers would not comment, but issued a statement saying: “The University takes this matter seriously and has policies in place to deal with this type of student behavior.”

CBS 2′s John Metaxas spoke with students on the Rutgers campus who used terms like “disgusting” and “extremely inappropriate” to describe the alleged spying. “I mean we all live in such close conditions with each other, it’s like breach of privacy…I think it’s gross,” Kate Perkowski said. “Extremely rude and it’s really obscene. I just can’t imagine someone would do that,” Preston Chang said. Under New Jersey’s privacy law it is a crime to transmit or even view images that depict nudity or sexual contact with an individual without that person’s consent. Possible penalties include a prison term of up to five years. Students on campus were upset and said the incident was a tremendous violation of privacy. “Let them know that you shouldn’t play around with that. That’s serious. That’s someones privacy right there,” Jovanny Hernandez said.

The name of the dead student has not been revealed. Last week his car was found near the George Washington Bridge, but a body has not been recovered.

MICHIGAN: Assistant Attorney General Harasses Gay College Student

This is just too bizarre.