A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed against members of Congress who displayed rainbow flag outside their offices in Washington, DC.
Anti-gay gadfly Chris Sevier sued congressional representatives with the bizarre claim that the rainbow flag is a religious symbol, and thus the members of Congress are violating the constitutional prohibition against government establishment of religion.
A religion? Really? Does this mean we can get Judy Garland’s birthday off as a religious holiday? Maybe Madonna’s too?
Judge Randolph D. Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected Sevier’s argument on the basis of common sense.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
“The gay rights movement bears no trappings of ‘religion’ as that concept is widely understood,” Moss wrote in his opinion. “Common sense… forecloses Sevier’s claim.”
So does this mean that Sevier will finally shut up and go away?
You might remember him from previous headlines. He’s the Christian country music producer who was arrested for stalking singer John Rich and was later arrested for stalking a 17-year-old girl.
Chris Sevier, who sometimes also goes by Mark Sevier, is the Nashville resident who tried to overturn same-sex marriage by seeking to marry his laptop. Sevier sued, unsuccessfully, to have the “marriage” recognized in several states.
He also sued Apple, in a suit demanding that the company sell all of its products in safe mode to limit access to pornography. In fact, he’s sued everyone from fellow anti-gay activist Kim Davis, to former president Barack Obama — and has yet to win a single suit.
Sevier’s also tried his hand at writing laws. Last year, he proposed legislation to require makers of computers and phones to block all access to pornography unless users paid a $20 “porn tax.” Some state legislatures took up the bill.
He also co-authored a bill introduced in the South Carolina state legislature, which defined marriage as a union between “a man and a woman,” and called other forms of marriage “parody marriages.” Presumably, that included unions between man and laptop.
With any luck, we’ve heard the last of Chris Sevier for a while. It’s doubtful, but we can still hope.
