So some anonymous person was publicly claiming Ron Livingston is gay. Ron is suing him for defamation of character.

But that's not the interesting part.

The interesting part is whether calling someone gay is defamation:

Ben Sheffner, a Hollywood copyright attorney, wonders in his Copyrights & Campaigns blog whether it is defamatory to falsely label somebody gay:

It’s a very interesting issue; Obviously many people don’t like being falsely called gay, but some gay rights activists argue that to permit a defamation action for a false accusation of homosexuality perpetuates the harmful notion that there is something wrong, or shameful, about being gay. Indeed, a New York federal court recently ruled that a false accusation of homosexuality is not defamatory per se.

Its like saying "Tom Cross is such a woman!" Did I defame Tom? Only if being a woman is a bad thing.

I'm interested in how this plays out.

Calling someONE 'gay' defamation?