Kim Davis’ lawyer is now representing suspended judge who ‘abused authority’ to block gay weddings
(Getty)
The state Supreme Court justice who tried to block gay weddings has hired the same lawyer who represented Kim Davis.
The chief justice in Alabama, Roy Moore, was indefinitely suspended after the Judicial Inquiry Commission filed a formal complaint against him.
After the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of equal marriage last summer, Moore actively disregarded the ruling and instructed probate judges to ignore it, in a brazen attempt to re-ban gay weddings.
He declared the Supreme Court ruling “doesn’t apply” in Alabama, but was later smacked down by a federal judge who clarified that the probate judges could not just ignore the ruling by the highest court in America.
Filing a case against Moore this month, the Commission says he “flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority” to pursue his own vendetta on the issue.
However, a very familiar face is representing Moore in the dispute: the same attorney who represented embattled Kentucky clerk Kim Davis.
Moore is represented by Mat Staver, the head of the hardline evangelical Liberty Counsel – and the de-facto leader of the anti-LGBT movement in the US, having been at the core of many recent conflicts.
A report recently found that Staver, who rose to fame alongside Davis, has secretly been helping Republican lawmakers draft a wave of anti-LGBT legislation in at least 20 states, leading to a wave of anti-LGBT ‘conscience’ bills and ‘bathroom bills’.
Staver defended his puppeteer-like actions in coordinating the shadowy movement, saying: “The Supreme Court in the 5-4 opinion on marriage in 2015 lit the house on fire.All we’re trying to do is control the fire at this point in time.”
Despite being embraced by Republicans across the country, Staver’s own personal views about gay people are shockingly extreme. Earlier this week, he directly equated gay people and paedophiles.
He said: “We’ve opened the door for every rapist and paedophile. Frankly, when you look at some of the people behind the North Carolina [LGBT anti-discrimination] law and some of these other laws, who are they?
“They have been identified, some of them that have been advocating this, as paedophiles. Some of this is being financed by those who are actively promoting paedophilia.”
Meanwhile, his wife-and-colleague recently pledged to bring a handgun to the bathroom to threaten transgender people with.
