Republican Senate candidate blamed 9/11 on ‘sodomy’
(Photo by Gary Tramontina/Getty Images)
The GOP’s frontrunner for a vacant Senate seat blamed the September 11 terror attacks on “sodomy”.
Ultra-conservative former judge Roy Moore is running for the US Senate seat vacated by Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and has a lead over his GOP primary opponent Luther Strange.
Moore is a diehard opponent of LGBT rights who was ejected from his role as Alabama’s Chief Justice, after abusing his authority in a bid to block gay weddings in the state.
But even more disturbing claims have now come to light about his conduct.
CNN revealed this week that Moore gave a sermon earlier this year which suggested the 9/11 attacks were sent by God as a punishment for gay sex.
In a speech Moore suggested God was angry at the USbecause “we legitimize sodomy” and “legitimize abortion.”
He quoted a Bible verse about God’s wrath, before adding: “Sounds a little bit like the Pentagon, whose breaking came suddenly at an instance [on 9/11], doesn’t it?”
Moore will face off against Luther Strange in a GOP run-off election this month.
The winner of the Republican run-off will take on Democrat Doug Jones in the special Senate election on December 12.
Victory in the GOP run-off all-but-guarantees victory in the special election, as no Democrat has won a Senate race in the state in more than two decades.
It emerged earlier this week that Moore also has ties to an extremist pastor who has called for gay people to be put to death.
CNN revealed that Moore has appeared multiple times on a radio show hosted by pastor Kevin Swanson, who is known for preaching that gay people must be stoned to death.
GOP officials have been embarrassed over ties to Swanson in the past, with Senator Ted Cruz forced to apologise last year for appearing at an event run by him.
However, Moore’s association with him is much more long-standing, appearing at least five times on Swanson’s Generations Radio show. He appeared as recently as February 2017, long after Swanson’s views were known.
In his appearances on Swanson’s show, the pair both rallied against the ‘gay agenda’.
Meanwhile, in a 2015 interview Moore refused to say whether he supports gay people being put to death.
Asked if gay people should be executed, he said: “Well I don’t, you know, I’m not here to outline any punishments for sodomy.
“That’s far beyond any issues I’ve come in contact with. I can’t help what some people say, what some people do.”
He added: “In 1960, every state in the union had laws against sodomy. And in the beginning of the country, in 1776, all 13 colonies had laws against sodomy. So sodomy is historically against the law.”
Moore is most famous for being ejected from his role as Alabama’s Chief Justice.
The disgraced justice had issued a string of orders declaring the US Supreme Court ruling on equal marriage “doesn’t apply” in Alabama due to state anti-gay laws, and ordered probate judges to enforce a gay marriage ban.
