Donald Trump brushes off concerns about ‘death to gays’ Republican candidate
Donald Trump has rebuffed concerns about a Republican candidate for the US Senate who believes gay people should be jailed.
Roy Moore has been picked as the Republican candidate ahead of a special election for the US Senate seat vacated by Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions, despite a string of controversies surrounding his abhorrent views about LGBT rights.
Moore has compared gay sex to bestiality, saying: “Just because it’s done behind closed doors, it can still be prohibited by state law Do you know that bestiality, the relationship between man and beast is prohibited in every state? It’s the same thing.”
It has also revealed that he 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. Moore himself has dodged questions about whether gay people should be put to death.
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
But Donald Trump was not fussed about his homophobic record, when asked during a press conference yesterday.
A journalist asked: “Roy Moore, down in Alabama, has said that he believes homosexuality should be illegal and that Muslims should be barred from serving in the U.S. Congress.
“What makes you comfortable with someone with those beliefs serving in the U.S. Senate?”
But President Trump brushed off the call to condemn the comments.
He said: “Well, I’m going to be meeting with Roy sometime next week, and we’re going to talk to him about a lot of different things.
“But I’ll be meeting with him. He ran a very strong race.
“The people of Alabama, who I like very much and they like me very much, but they like Roy.
“And we’ll be talking to him, and I can report to you then. Okay?”
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Trump has previously vowed to “fight like hell” for Moore.
In a 2015 interview Moore himself refused to say whether he supports gay people being put to death.
The candidate formerly served as Alabama’s Chief Justice, but was ejected from the role after abusing his authority in a bid to block gay weddings in the state.
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.
Moore fumed: “This was a politically motivated effort by radical homosexual and transgender groups to remove me as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court because of outspoken opposition to their immoral agenda.”
It was in fact because of his flagrantly illegal actions.
Moore said: “Because of YOU, tonight, the establishment has been defeated in Alabama!
“We still have a ways to go before December 12th’s general election, and the road certainly doesn’t get easier, but with YOU, the best grassroots army of supporters around, I know we can take on anything together!”
The special election takes place on December 12.
