Mark Latham faces defamation lawsuit over nasty tweet

• By Avi Yemini

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Mark Latham is being sued for an allegedly homophobic tweet he sent to a fellow NSW politician.

Independent MP Alex Greenwich said on Thursday he would initiate defamation proceedings after the One Nation politician refused to apologise for the offending tweet.

The saga began in March when Greenwich tweeted that Mark Latham was “a disgusting human being”.

Latham responded to the openly gay MP with a tweet describing gay sex in graphic detail. That tweet has since been deleted.

Greenwich claims Latham’s tweet had reduced him to a “sex act” and caused humiliation.

He had given Latham until Wednesday to apologise. When that deadline passed, he announced that he would instruct his legal team to sue.

Greenwich, who was at the forefront of the campaign for gay marriage, said he would ask the court to award maximum general damages of around $421,000.

On top of that, he wants aggravated damages on the grounds he had suffered ridicule, hatred and contempt because of Latham’s graphic description of anal sex.

Additionally, Greenwich has complained of homosexual vilification and sexual harassment against Mr Latham with Anti-Discrimination NSW.

“I am not willing to take this or ignore this,” Greenwich said.

Latham, referring to Greenwich’s original tweet, said the MP had used social media “to attack all aspects of my life as a human being, as extremely dangerous and disgusting”.