GOP Candidate Using Homophobia To Raise Cash

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GOP Candidate Using Homophobia To Raise Cash

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: December 22, 2005 12:01 am ET

(Montgomery, Alabama) Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is asking supporters for a Christmas gift of cash to help his campaign for governor.

Moore is facing off against Gov. Bob Riley for the GOP nomination.

In an e-mail sent to supporters and signed by Moore's wife Kayla, she asks for donations and says that her husband is opposed by people who want to promote gay marriage and who "fear nothing more than the emergence of a powerful national spokesperson for Christian conservatism.

"And make no mistake: If elected governor of Alabama, my husband will be that spokesman!" she wrote.

"I know I am asking a lot especially right in the middle of this Christmas season when your focus is on family, friends and loved ones," the e-mail reads. "But, I can think of no better time than this Holy Season to begin our campaign to return morality to our country and God to our public square."

In 2003 Moore was removed as Chief Justice after the state's nine-member Court of Judicial Inquiry found he had violated judicial ethical standards for defiance of a federal judge's order to move a Ten Commandments monument he had installed in the rotunda of the state courthouse. (story)

Moore has a long record of anti-gay rulings.

In February 2002 when the state Supreme Court ruled against a lesbian mother who was seeking custody of her three daughters Moore used a litany of homophobic adjectives in his written decision.

Moore said that homosexuality is "an inherent evil" that should not be tolerated.

His decision went on to say that the mother's relationship made her an unfit parent and that homosexuality is "abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature."

When he became Chief Justice Moore had the massive Ten Commandments placed in the rotunda of the court.

His run for governor is his first bid for public office since being ousted as Alabama's chief justice.

The e-mail asks for donations by Dec. 31, the date candidates for governor have to file reports with the secretary of state showing how much they raised for their campaigns in 2005. Those reports are one measure of a candidate's support.

A spokesman for Gov. Bob Riley's campaign declined comment on the e-mail. Moore and Riley face off in the Republican primary on June 6.

©365Gay.com 2005

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