MIAMI, FL —Jack Thompson, a Florida attorney known nationally for his position against pornography and violence in video games, and who has filed a federal lawsuit against the Florida Bar for allegedly violating his constitutional rights, has angered a U.S. District Court judge by including images of men having gay sex as an exhibit in a document filed with the court last month. Judge Adalberto Jordan has ordered Coral Gables attorney Jack Thompson to show cause for why he shouldn’t be cited for contempt of court.
Thompson told the court in a response that he wasn’t going to apologize for the porn and was ready to go to jail.
Thompson is facing misconduct charges in disciplinary proceedings filed against him by the Florida Bar, which could result in his disbarment. Thompson is seeking one million dollars from the Bar for damages he says have resulted from the Bar harassing him by investigating what he says are baseless complaints filed against him by political adversaries.
In his filing with the federal court, Thompson says that the Bar has collaborated with Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney Norm Kent, who also publishes the National Gay News website.
Thompson says that Kent’s website is used for “distribution of hardcore porn to anyone of any age.” Instead of just referencing a link or two on the site to prove his point, he attached hardcore gay porn photos to his motion.
Of Thompson’s outburst, the judge wrote, “No court need tolerate the use of obscene, indecent, and scandalous pleadings. The graphic images Mr. Thompson attached to his motion are indecent, obscene, and offensive. To the extent that the other attorney’s alleged conduct is in any way relevant to the claims in Mr. Thompson’s third amended complaint, there was no need for Mr. Thompson to file these graphic images in the public record. A simple reference to the website and its alleged links would have sufficed. At the very least, Mr. Thompson should have filed the graphic images under seal or sought the court’s permission to file the images in the public record. Through his actions, Mr. Thompson made available for unlimited public viewing, on the court’s docketing system, these graphic images.”
Thompson has thus far filed four responses to the show cause order, in one likening himself to Paul Revere, writing “to hold Thompson in contempt for alerting the federal court system to the criminal activity… is akin to arresting Paul Revere in 1775 for “disturbing the peace” with his midnight ride.”
Kent commented on the case to GamePolitics.com, saying, “On a legal note, I am thinking most heterosexual lawyers… could better advocate their cause and arguments in the United States District Court than by… seeking, searching out, and subsequently then downloading homoerotic images, that may or may not be found within our advertisers’ website content, over which I have no authority or control.”
