Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore prevailed over the Trump-backed incumbent, Luther Strange, in Wednesday's Alabama Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But it wasn't just the GOP establishment that was concerned by the political outsider's victory.
LGBTQ advocates — long familiar with Moore's anti-gay actions and comments — sounded the alarms following his win.
“Given Roy Moore’s track record of flouting laws and attacking the civil rights of LGBTQ people across our state, we already know he won’t stand up for all Alabamians when it matters most," Eva Kendrick, Alabama State Manager of national LGBTQ-rights group Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.
"In the run up to December 12, we urge every fair-minded person across Alabama to say #NoMoore and reject the politics of bigotry and hate," Kendrick added, referencing the date of the general election, where Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones.
Local LGBTQ organizations have also spoken out against Moore and condemned his past comments and actions toward the community.
“Having dealt with Roy Moore in many instances in the past, it's alarming although not surprising that he won the Republican nomination," Alex Smith, executive director of Equality Alabama, said. "We know that he is openly hostile to LGBTQ people and has a very incorrect interpretation of how the law applies to basically anyone in America. Should he become our senator, he could be a threat to LGBTQ people nationwide."
Moore's Anti-LGBTQ History
Moore was twice elected and twice removed from his post as the Alabama Supreme Court Justice since first ascending to the court in 2001. In 2016, he was suspended after instructing probate judges to continue enforcing the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, in defiance of Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized the practice nationwide.
He has also suggested that Congress should impeach Supreme Court justices who decided in favor of same-sex marriage and argued that gay marriage would "literally cause the destruction of our country."
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Moore has been frank about his anti-LGBTQ views in his court writings. In a 2002 opinion regarding a custody dispute involving a same-sex couple, he wrote that homosexuality is an “inherent evil against which children must be protected” and said "homosexual conduct is, and has been, considered abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature’s God upon which this Nation and our laws are predicated.”
Moore has also advocated on multiple occasions for outlawing homosexuality, going on the record as recently as 2015 to espouse this view. In the past, he has compared same-sex sexual activity to bestiality, polygamy and incest.
Among Moore's long list of controversial comments aimed at the LGBTQ community, are a suggestion that 9/11 was divine punishment for "legitimized sodomy" and inflammatory remarks about transgender people leading a life of sin. Moore is also staunchly opposed to gay people serving in the military and same-sex couples being able to adopt.
Roy Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
