SPRINGFIELD — Supporters of an East African advocacy group that has filed a “crimes against humanity” lawsuit against anti-homosexuality evangelist pastor Scott Lively gathered in front of the federal courthouse Wednesday morning Dozens of supporters, including 16 Ugandans, some of whom traveled from their country to be present here today, demonstrated outside in advance of a hearing later this morning on the lawsuit.

The hearing concerns the Springfield pastor’s request that a judge toss out the case. “Scott Lively worked with my religious leaders and politicians to undermine our work and all our efforts to fight for our rights as LGBT persons in Uganda,” said Frank Mugisha, executive director of SMUG, also known as “Sexual Minorities Uganda,” the group which filed the lawsuit.

Members of the Stop the Hate and Homophobia Coalition, along with community members and a coalition of faith leaders from Massachusetts and New York, will also be present at the court for oral argument on motions for a summary judgment in SMUG vs. Lively.

Lively, who arrived the courthouse well before the start of the 11 a.m. hearing, said he believes he and his supporters are “in a very solid position. I am very optimistic that this frivolous lawsuit will be defeated today.”

A number of Western Massachusetts residents participated in the demonstration outside the courthouse.

“He is spreading hate around the world and we really need to stop him,” said Ellen Graves, a West Springfield resident and member of Stop the Hate and Homophobia Coalition. A smaller number of pro-Lively supporters gathered as well.

“I am here to support Pastor Scott Lively,” said John Maak of Ludlow. “I believe in a Judeo-Christian world view and a moral code. I do not believe in political correctness. I believe it’s a secular moral code that is a modern phenomenon and I am here to stand against it.” SMUG is a non-profit lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & intersex advocacy organization in Uganda. The group is being represented in the case by the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The lawsuit, filed in 2012, pertains to multiple visits Lively made to the country during which he likened homosexuality to a “disease” spread to children by Western sadists conspiring to “prey upon” the country’s youth in presentations to high government officials in 2009 and 2012, according to Mother Jones .

Lively, who runs the church Redemption Gate Mission Society and owns the coffee shop Holy Grounds, both in Springfield, says he never advocated punishment of homosexuals, rather therapy.

But in other writings Lively specifically opined against empathy for homosexuals.

“Public sympathy for ‘gays’ as victims is not grounded in logic, but in emotion,” Mother Jones quoted from a passage Lively penned. “An effective strategy is to emphasize the issue of homosexual recruitment of children.”