Vimeo Ban Against 'Formerly Gay' Pastor Likely to Survive Appeal

MANHATTAN (CN) — A pastor who calls himself a “former homosexual” appeared unlikely Thursday to win a second chance at suing the website Vimeo for removing his posts about conversion therapy.  At a Second Circuit hearing held virtually this morning, U.S. Circuit Judge Rosemary S. Pooler pressed for evidence, “even threadbare,” of James Domen’s discrimination claims. Nada Higuera argued for the pastor that Vimeo’s actions were “not against content, but against James Domen himself, and based on his sexual orientation.”  “But they did target content,” the Clinton-appointed Pooler said, cutting Higuera short. “They said they wouldn’t allow it, and he knew that when he signed up. What did he not understand?”  Vimeo’s terms ban content promoting “sexual orientation change efforts,” and the video-streaming website warned Domen in 2018 that posts on his channel appeared to conflict with those rules. After Domen failed to take down the videos, Vimeo removed the pastor’s entire library and blocked his account.  Higuera tried to make the case Thursday that the company did so in bad faith as most of the pastor’s library had nothing to do with sexual orientation change efforts and included topics like “cookie baking.” “The five videos that were allegedly problematic…
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