London Mayor Boris Johnson Wins Court Battle Over Barring Christian 'Ex-Gay' Group's Ads from Buses

A judge has ruled in favor of London Mayor Boris Johnson in a case brought by a Christian group challenging Johnson's decision to ban "gay cure" ads from city buses, the Guardian reports:

A judge found on Friday that Boris Johnson did not abuse his position as chairman of Transport for London (TfL) last April when he imposed the ban on the advert, which suggested that people could be cured of homosexuality.

The decision is a defeat for the Core Issues Trust, a Christian charity that funds "reparative therapy" for gay Christians, which it claims can "develop their heterosexual potential". They believe Johnson was "politically driven" when he intervened to block the ad.

The ad posters earmarked for the sides of the capital's buses read: "Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get over it!"

Johnson condemned the "gay cure" ad as "offensive to gays" and said it could lead to retaliation against the wider Christian community.

The judge agreed, though she said that Johnson's process "was procedurally unfair, in breach of its own procedures and demonstrated a failure to consider the relevant issues".

The judge also allowed an appeal, but said she thought it didn't have much of a chance.

Tory MP: Conservative Gay Marriage Plans 'Barking Mad'

With David Cameron, Boris Johnson and other high-profile conservative leaders across the pond coming out for marriage equality, expect to hear and see plenty of dissension from party peers who stick to more traditional right-wing politics, particularly MP David TC Davies.

He's actually already started, saying this weekend that his fellow Tories' plan pushing for same-sex marriage are "barking mad."

"There is a political calculation here, at some level, that this is going to be good and if we go ahead with it David Cameron's going to be carried shoulder high back into number 10 by Stonewall activists, and it simply isn't going to happen," said Davies during an interview with BBC Radio Wales.

"What is going to happen is that we're going to lose a large number of very loyal activists who've gone out and campaigned for us over the years and who don't like this idea, so politically it's barking mad."

The most egregious of Davies odious remarks, however, was his assertion, most parents would prefer their children not to be gay."

I think most people are very tolerant and have no problem at all if people are gay but, and I hate to say this in a way because I expect it's going to cause controversy, but I think most parents would prefer their children not to be gay, knowing most parents want grandchildren if nothing else.

Despite his clear aggression toward gay people, Davies also claimed, "If there are any sort of areas where there isn't full equality with married couples then I'd be more than happy to support making changes to civic ceremonies…" How generous...

Tories Launch 'Freedom To Marry,' Say 'Marriage Should Be Open To All'

Just a few days after British PM David Cameron said "I don't want gay people to be excluded from a great institution [of marriage]," 19 equalliy powerful, equally conservative politicians, including London Mayor Boris Johnson, Education Secretary Michael Gove and Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt, who is an evangelical christian, joined Cameron in the fight for equality by forming a new coalition, "Freedom to Marry."

In a letter published in the Sunday Telegraph, the group wrote, "Marriage should be open to all, regardless of sexuality."

“We recognize that civil partnerships were an important step forward in giving legal recognition to same sex couples. But civil partnerships are not marriages, which express a particular and universally understood commitment," said the Tory leaders.

Nick Herbert, the openly gay former police minister who brought the group together, also penned his own op-ed today saying his party must learn from the American Republicans: alienating LGBT people and their allies brings nothing but electoral gloom.

As the Republicans found in the recent presidential elections, there is no mileage in alienating the new generation of voters or what is, even in the United States, a growing majority of public opinion. President Obama endorsed gay marriage and was re-elected. So, in London, was Boris Johnson.

Winning politicians who have built the broad base of voter support that is needed to gain office have got themselves on the right side of this argument. It is not gay marriage which will cost Conservatives votes: it is failing to win the common ground.

Cameron said the legislation will be introduced in 2013, meaning the England may see same-sex marriages by 2014.

This British Freedom to Marry movement comes after it was reported last September that Tories were meeting with leaders from the States' Freedom to Marry coalition.

London Mayor Boris Johnson Sees No Reason Why Marriage Should Be Denied to Gay People: VIDEO

London Mayor Boris Johnson, who cheered us all up in late July with at a pre-Olympics pep rally attended by thousands in which he mocked Mitt Romney, appears in a new video discussing his support for marriage equality.

Says Johnson:

"Hi folks, I’m Boris Johnson, I’m Mayor of London. One of the amazing things about London is that it’s not only got a declining crime rate, declining murder rate, more theatres than New York, less rainfall than Rome but it’s also one of the few places in the country where the rate of marriage is actually increasing and I see absolutely no reason why that happy state should be denied to anybody in our country. And that’s why I’m supporting the Out4Marriage campaign."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Mitt Romney's Olympic Sized Gaffe Inspires London Mayor Boris Johnson: VIDEO

Mitt Romney's big sojourn abroad is not off to the most auspicious start. There was the awkward timing of Prime Minister David Cameron praising marriage equality just before Republican Romney arrived, and then there was the candidate himself. As you may have heard, Romney really stepped in "it" when he suggested this morning that perhaps London wasn't prepared for the Olympic Games, which start tomorrow.

"You know, it's hard to know just how well it will turn out. There are a few things that were disconcerting, the stories about the private security firm not having enough people, supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging," he said in an interview with NBC's Brian Williams. He later tried to clarify his remarks, saying he was "delighted with the prospects of a highly successful Olympic Games."

But the damage had been done, and it wasn't long before PM Cameron gave a back-hand to Romney's tenure as chief executive of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics: "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere."

And now London Mayor Boris Johnson has joined in on the fun by using Romney as a whipping boy in his speech before a cheering crowd: There are some people who are coming from around the world who don't yet know about all the preparations we've done to get London ready in the last seven years. There's a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we are ready. Are we ready?"

Romney next heads to Israel, but that's not until Saturday. He's attending the Olympics' opening ceremony tomorrow, meaning his comments will more than likely dominate the next few days of news coverage for a candidate trying to prove his diplomatic chops.

Watch Johnson's remarks AFTER THE JUMP...