• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, December 9, 2009

Office Space star Ron Livingston has filed a defamation lawsuit against a Web user who allegedly made false posts on Wikipedia and Facebook stating that the actor is having an affair with a man.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that an anonymous user -- identified only as John Doe -- has "maintained an ongoing campaign to spread lies about Livingston on the Internet."

The user allegedly made a false Wikipedia post in May stating that Livingston was in a homosexual relationship with a "Lee Dennison." Livingston's representatives attempted to change the statements, but the user allegedly kept changing them back.

In August, the user allegedly published a fake Facebook profile of the actor that also falsely stated he was in a relationship with "Dennison." The user also created a fake profile for Dennison, which said he was in a relationship with Livingston, according to the lawsuit.

Livingston alleges that his reputation has been harmed by the posts.

But some legal experts say that whether allegations of homosexuality are defamatory is an open question. Sam Bayard, assistant director of the Citizen Media Law Project, says that statements generally are only defamatory if they lower someone's reputation in the eyes of the community. Whether allegations of being gay in California are defamatory is "not an easy question to answer," he says.

Media attorney Ben Sheffner on his blog adds that some gay rights advocates object to the idea that false accusations of homosexuality are actionable. "Some gay rights activists argue that to permit a defamation action for a false accusation of homosexuality perpetuates the harmful notion that there is something wrong, or shameful, about being gay," Sheffner writes.