A Springfield pastor is appealing a court ruling that was in favor of him.
Judge Michael Ponsor accepted a motion for summary judgment this week made by Scott Lively in the federal lawsuit brought against him by a Uganda civil rights group that alleged Lively encouraged persecution against gay people in that country when he visited.
Lively is appealing because he didn't like the language used by Ponsor in his memorandum, in which the judge accused the pastor of advancing "crackpot bigotry".
Liberty Counsel, the conservative legal group that represented Lively, called the language in Ponsor's document unlawful and improper.