Ex-Gay Watch Defends Itself Vs. Exodus, Liberty Counsel
In September 2005, blogger Justin Watt published a parody of an Exodus exgay billboard and encouraged other web sites to republish it.
On Feb. 27, 2006 — after learning of the parody from blogger Mike Tidmus — Ex-Gay Watch republished the parody.
Within three days, the Liberty Counsel delivered a cease-and-desist letter to both Watt and Ex-Gay Watch. (Cease-and-desist letter to Ex-Gay Watch, PDF file, 360 KB)
I took Ex-Gay Watch’s copy of the parody offline as a courtesy, but refused to agree to the terms of Liberty Counsel’s letter.
Lambda Legal helpfully referred Ex-Gay Watch to a legal team with the Los Angeles law firm of Irell & Manella. The team, led by attorney Robert Klieger, generously responded on my behalf today to the Liberty Counsel’s cease-and-desist letter. (XGW response to Liberty Counsel, PDF file, 1 MB)
I am grateful to Lambda Legal and Irell & Manella for their assistance. I hope that Exodus and the Liberty Counsel will, in the end, support freedom of speech and acknowledge the legality and legitimacy of comedic criticism and competing points of view.
That is such a great letter. It was critical but not mean, and made such good points. I am so glad to see you will not be bullied. Well done!
It’s much more thorough and professional than the tripe from Liberty Counsel.
David
Congratulations Mike,
You definately stood up against that Goliah. They really stoop low when they sent you that ‘legal’ threat.
Congrats, Mike. What a great day, and what a great letter by Irell & Manella. My favorite part:
Damn!!! They are so busted. Take away their lawyer cards.
Fenwick & West sent one out on my behalf today as well. Perhaps you’d like to read it? A response to Liberty.
Oh, one more thing. Do you have any plans to put the parody back up?
I love how the Liberty Counsel had to justify its expertise at the start of its letter – are they feeling a bit inadequate, perhaps?
Justin,
I like the dictionary.com parody much more than the gay.com parody. I’m thinking about posting that one (with permission). If someone could fix up the text in Zortnac’s Egypt parody, I’d strongly consider posting that one also.
If you go to AFA’s anti-gay boycott of Ford at boycottford.com, you’ll see a number of Ford Motor Company trademarks.
Does Liberty Counsel object to AFA’s usage of these trademarks?