QUOTE(ColScott @ Mon 7th December 2009, 5:13pm)
You may actually be too stupid to live. The man is an actor. He will claim he is a leading man. He will state that Hollywood will not hire him as a leading man if he is gay. He will then claim millions in damages because of these false allegations which seem designed to hurt him.
You sir are a moron.
Maybe not a moron, but naive in the extreme (or blinded by his own cultural prejudices).
Defamation does not only equal "being called something that most liberal Americans think is a Bad Thing"
DEFAMATION - An act of communication that causes someone to be shamed, ridiculed, held in contempt, lowered in the estimation of the community, or to lose employment status or earnings or otherwise suffer a damaged reputation.All you need to show is that someone maliciously or negligently stated an untruth and that untruth has caused you harm, disadvantage or quantifiable distress.
If you falsely alleged that I'm am a woman, and get me kicked out of the "male internet user's club", I have a case for defamation. That does not mean woman are inferior.
And the fact is that EVEN in the US, EVEN in 2009, people thinking you are gay can cause you substantial harm in various contexts - even if it is just in you attempts to get laid in a heterosexual singles' bar. But defamation is not just about what might cause you harm in the cultural mainstream - if it causes you embarrassment in your conservative evangelical church meeting, you may still have a case for defamation.
10 years ago Jason Donovan won £200,000 libel damaged from "The Face" when they alleged he was gay. He was accused of homophobia when he launched the suit - but there's no evidence he was - and he won.
(I wonder how long before a gay man wins libel damages against someone for calling them "straight"? When it happens (as it probably will) it will prove my point).