Michiana's Rainbow Gazzette - Anti-gay judge runs to be Ala. governor

Anti-gay judge runs to be Ala. governor

Ousted Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who gained infamy for his comments on homosexuality and refusing to move a monument of the Ten Commandments from a state courthouse, announced Monday he is running for governor.

“I will defend the right of every citizen of this state—including judges, coaches, teachers, city, county and state officials—to acknowledge God as the sovereign source of law, liberty and government,” Moore said in a quote published by the Associated Press (AP).

The announcement alarmed several progressive and LGBT rights groups.

Moore made his plans official in Gadsden , where he earned national attention during his battle to keep a plaque of the Ten Commandments displayed in his courtroom. The summer after being elected as chief justice of the state Supreme Court in 2000, Moore installed a 5,280-pound granite monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building .

In 2003 he was removed from office for defying a federal court order to remove the monument, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case.

Moore appealed his ouster to the Alabama Supreme Court, but was denied his job back.

During that battle Moore ruled to prevent a lesbian mother from winning custody of her three children from an allegedly abusive father. Homosexual conduct, Moore opined, was “immoral, detestable, a crime against nature and a violation of nature's God, upon which this nation and our laws are predicated.”

“I think he is probably one of the most openly homophobic judges in the entire country,” said Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “He openly injected his personal religious beliefs in decisions affecting lesbian and gay litigants. Lesbian and gay people were not able to get a fair hearing in his court. I think it is frightening that he is running for governor.”

“We believe his understanding of the First Amendment is terribly flawed,” said Jeremy Leaming, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Leaming added his organization could not support or endorse any candidate.

Moore is expected to face incumbent Gov. Bob Riley in the Republican primary held June 6, 2006 —a match some political experts believe will work against Moore .

“Gov. Riley demonstrated some very good leadership qualities in the recent hurricane disaster,” said D'Linell Finley, a political science professor at Auburn University Montgomery in a quote published by the Montgomery Advertiser . “Many people were well pleased with the way the governor handled the disaster. That kind of reassured many folks in his party.”

But Howard Bayless, the board chair for Equality Alabama, thinks Moore will have strong support. “Here's our problem: Roy Moore will have a primary in June when the anti-marriage amendment hits the ballot, so this will turn his supporters out in droves, so we're extremely concerned.”

“It is my belief he is running because of the anti-marriage amendment,” Bayless told the PlanetOut Network.

Carrie Evans, the state legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), told the PlanetOut Network she does not expect Moore to win. “I don't think he is a seriously viable candidate. Not just because of his anti-gay views. Moderate Republicans have backed away from him after the Ten Commandments. You just can't win a gubernatorial race without the strong backing of your party.”

Evans said HRC plans to help Equality Alabama to make sure Moore does not win. “I think the local activists will be incited to work to make sure this does not happen.”

But Bayless is not sure Equality Alabama can handle the fight.

“Here's the terrible thing,” Bayless said. “Roy Moore will garner incredible support here. We have launched our own education program, but in Alabama gay people are invisible. We are working to help people come out—to tell neighbors we are just like them.”

Posted October 4, 2005