# Would it be a valid suit if Barney Frank sued Steve Anderson for libel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670 "2009-09-02T19:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/1 "2009-09-02T19:40:41Z")
For those not familiar with the story, a crackpot minister named Steve Anderson ([Faithful Word Baptist Church](http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org) in Tempe, Arizona) gave a hellfire and damnation [sermon](http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/gospel-hate-arizona-pastor-steve-and) in which he prayed for Obama’s violent death. He took a detour however to focus on Barney Frank, of whom he said: > [@](#): > > I’m here to preach the Bible. And I’m sick to death – hey, let me tell you something. Our country is run by faggots. You know who wrote this 700-billion-dollar bailout bill? You know who was the man who was the architect of the bailout? His name is Barney Franks, he is a pedophile, he has been arrested for uh, interacting with boys that are in their teenage years when he’s in his 50s, it’s in the news, he’s been arrested for it. He is a pedophile, he is a homosexual, he has stood up in the floor of the sacred halls of justice and said, ‘I am gay, I am a sodomite.’ > > That’s Barney Frank, that’s who just sold our country into fascism. That’s who just sold our corporations to the government. That’s who sold out our country, a faggot! And I’m here to tell you something! I’m not going to stand for it, and let a faggot run the church! It’s bad enough that we’ve got a bunch of faggots running the government! The [proudly uneducated](http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/page2.html) Anderson later said in an interview with Alan Colmes that he was wrong about Frank- that he had him confused with another faggot Democrat representative from Massachusetts, [Gerry Studds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Studds), who had a sexual relationship with a 17 year old male page.\* All gays are, however, pedophiles who enlist by rape. So my question: I know that the rules are different for public figures when it comes to allegations of slander/libel/defamation, etc., but would Barney Frank have a valid case if he wished to pursue legal action against Anderson? Relevant facts: It would be impossible for Frank to prove loss of earnings or anything like since he’s an elected official from Massachusetts and Anderson is in Arizona and this isn’t an election year anyway. Anderson did revoke and correct the comment in a later. However, Anderson did make the comment in a public forum even though it was completely false and in that sermon he openly stated his wish for the death of Obama, and he vocally approved of a congregation member who carried a firearm to Obama’s appearance, therefore potential endangerment could be argued. While I seriously doubt that Frank (who’s been called a fag by no less than the Republican House majority leader before) will pursue recourse, if he did so would he stand any chance of collecting damages? \*The fact that a presumably consensual relationship between a middle aged man and a 17 year old is not pedophilia but- at worst- statuatory rape (and of course a political career killer and kind of icky) is a point that nobody has yet addressed. There have in fact been many politicians and public figures who married women younger than 17 (albeit not in recent decades). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/2 "2009-09-02T19:43:00Z")
PS- Anyone care to wager on whether Steve Anderson will ultimately be found in a tryst with a 20 year old male hustler and a labradoodle or a Girl Scout troop and a komodo dragon? (His ilk never gets caught just having an affair- it’s usually some REALLY warped shite.) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/3 "2009-09-02T19:48:57Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > PS- Anyone care to wager on whether Steve Anderson will ultimately be found in a tryst with a 20 year old male hustler and a labradoodle or a Girl Scout troop and a komodo dragon? (His ilk never gets caught just having an affair- it’s usually some REALLY warped shite.) That’s a sucker bet. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/4 "2009-09-02T20:05:03Z")
The way that the First Amendment has been interpreted makes it very difficult for public figures to sue for libel successfully in the US. This is all to the good, because it means that we can speculate about the likelihood of the Reverend Anderson being found in bed with a dead 14-year-old male hooker (and his pet poodle), and not be sued ourselves for libel. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/5 "2009-09-02T20:25:43Z")
Substitute the Komodo dragon for a Gila monster (one illegally brought into the country, naturally), and I’ll give you even money. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/6 "2009-09-02T20:27:08Z")
The Supreme Court set up a three part test for libel and slander of a public figure. First, the statement or story printed must be false. Check Second, the person making the statement must KNOW it’s false… looks like a lawsuit would fall apart right here. Third, that falsehood must be spoken/published for the purpose of ruining the person’s reputation. This angle is iffy at best. So no, I don’t see how a lawsuit could succeed. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/7 "2009-09-02T20:32:18Z")
Will no one rid us of this meddlesome priest? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/8 "2009-09-02T20:33:34Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > For those not familiar with the story, a crackpot minister named Steve Anderson ([Faithful Word Baptist Church](http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org) in Tempe, Arizona) gave a hellfire and damnation [sermon](http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/gospel-hate-arizona-pastor-steve-and) in which he prayed for Obama’s violent death. [FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU . . .](http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x8/BobAsh_album/RageGuy.jpg) that guy is from _here?_ I heard his rant on the Howard Stern show yesterday and figured for sure he was a bible belter. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/9 "2009-09-02T20:37:47Z")
> [@](#): > > We are a local New Testament church reaching the Phoenix Area with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don’t expect anything contemporary or liberal. We are an old-fashioned, independent, fundamental, King James Bible only, separated Baptist church and not ashamed to say so. “We only read that _old fashioned_ bible, written by a gay dude 1600 years after Jesus died. None of that faggot shit.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/10 "2009-09-02T20:44:43Z")
I will never understand the justification for King James only, a translation of a translation of a translation of a translation of a translation by 17th century scholarship overseen by a king who was not a biblical scholar and who told the translators what he specifically wanted accentuated and who presided over a church of which most KJ Only people are not a part (do they believe Baptists=Anglicans?). The same people have probably never been to a Shakespearean play in their lives and if they did they probably didn’t understand it, and some of those were written _after_ the KJV. I presume there _is_ a justification one somewhere, but that even Kirk Cameron would barely be able to hold onto the ‘logic’. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/11 "2009-09-02T21:05:19Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > [FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU . . .](http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x8/BobAsh_album/RageGuy.jpg) that guy is from _here?_ I heard his rant on the Howard Stern show yesterday and figured for sure he was a bible belter. You didn’t know Arizona is located in the Bible Belt? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/12 "2009-09-02T21:06:34Z")
It’s not. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/13 "2009-09-02T21:26:10Z")
How about Michelangelo Signorile? Signorile recently [interviewed](http://www.signorile.com/2009/09/steven-l-anderson-killing-gays-is-not.html) Anderson, and during the interview Anderson asserted that Signorile is a child molester: [QUOTE=Michelangelo Signorile interview with Steven Anderson] Michelangelo Signorile: You know, I’m gay..I’m gay, and I don’t molest any children. What do you think of that? Steven Anderson: Well, I’d say you’re lying. MS: You think i must be molesting children, right? SA: Exactly, right. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/14 "2009-09-02T21:43:51Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > It’s not. The Bible is broadening its Belt! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/15 "2009-09-02T21:50:10Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The Bible is broadening its Belt! 🙂 One further example of the obesity problem in America. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/16 "2009-09-02T22:16:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro;11513287I presume there _is_ a justification one somewhere, but that even Kirk Cameron would barely be able to hold onto the ‘logic’.[/QUOTE] It’s a reaction to the Revised Standard Version and the NIV, which made changes that the fundamentalists didn’t like, and which they feel weaken the Christian message. For instance, there’s a line in the book of Matthew talking about the birth of Jesus and how it fit older prophecy, that says, basically, “As the book of Issiah says, 'a virgin is with child and will bear a son, and you shall call him Emmanuel…” Now, if you look at the book of Issiah, the King James version translates the line in Issiah, “a virgin is with child and will bear a son, and you shall call him Emmanuel…” The thing is, that’s not really the best translation of the line in the book of Issiah. The translators of the Revised Standard Version and the NIV realized that, and they translated the book of Issiah, “a young woman is with child and will bear a son, and you shall call him Emmanuel…” The King James Only people say that that translation weakens the idea that Jesus was born of a virgin and also contradicts the line in Matthew, which says that the line in Issiah uses the word “virgin”. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/17 "2009-09-02T22:27:05Z")
\never mind\ ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/18 "2009-09-02T22:46:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > \*The fact that a presumably consensual relationship between a middle aged man and a 17 year old is not pedophilia but … Indeed. I’m always irked when I hear _pedophilia_ used to describe ephebophilia. And Gerry Studds. That name sounds familiar. Did he kill Alfalfa? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/19 "2009-09-02T22:58:38Z")
> [@breezman](#): > > And Gerry Studds. That name sounds familiar. Did he kill Alfalfa? No, that was [John David Stutts](http://www.hulu.com/watch/10400/saturday-night-live-john-david-stutts). Very nice, quiet guy. (Do I believe he killed Buckwheat? Oh yeah- it’s all he ever talked about.) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670/20 "2009-09-02T23:08:45Z")
IANAL and all that, but it doesn’t look like there’s much of a case. He retracted the main false statement, and all the rest is opinion. I would like to however object to the assertion that “our country is run by faggots.” By my count, there are two out members of congress and one highly suspected. That means that only the legislative branch is only 0.56% faggot. That’s only one branch of three, and hardly a large part of the government. Even if we assume that there are potential Mark Foley reduxes out there, “faggot sodomites” are a very small voting block. They haven’t taken over our government yet, and have to rely on their traditional recruiting methods, like the Teletubbies and gym class. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-be-a-valid-suit-if-barney-frank-sued-steve-anderson-for-libel/508670.md?page=2)