ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Courts around the country are increasingly saying it's no longer slander to falsely call someone gay.
That's a measure of how attitudes are changing in the era of same-sex marriage and gays in uniform.
While "gay" is still often wielded as an insult, some judges have come to conclusion that it is not damaging to one's reputation, just as calling a white man black is no longer grounds for legal action the way it was a generation ago.
A midlevel New York state appeals court on Thursday made the latest such ruling in what was hailed by gay-rights activists as a small but meaningful victory.
The case involved a woman who was sued for allegedly spreading a rumor that an upstate New York man was gay in the hope of breaking up his relationship with another woman.
