Roy Moore, who wants to ban gay sex, to represent homophobic pastor arrested for holding church services during lockdown
Former judge Roy Moore. (Joe Raedle/Getty)
In the most unambitious crossover in history, former judge Roy Moore, who wants gay sex to be illegal again, will represent a homophobic pastor in court, after he was arrested for holding church services during the coronavirus lockdown.
Former Alabama supreme court justice Moore is known for his anti-LGBT+ views, his unsuccessful run for the US Senate in Alabama and for facing allegations of sexual misconduct towards teenage girls.
He was removed permanently from his position in 2017 due to ethics violations while trying to block same-sex marriage in Alabama.
According to The Advocate, the former judge will be making a return to the courtroom to represent a homophobic pastor who continued to hold church services, despite coronavirus lockdown measures in Louisiana.
Pastor Tony Spell refused to close down Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, instead bussing in more than 1,800 people to attend his Sunday morning service.
Spell was cited and arrested on Tuesday, March 31, for six misdemeanour counts of violating rules on public gatherings.
A blog in Spell’s name, updated from 2015 to 2016, linked an embrace of homosexuality to the sins of humanity prior to the Genesis flood in the Bible, insisting that it is “unnatural for boys to be attracted to boys, and girls to girls”.
It also compared gay weddings to polygamy, adding: “Same-sex marriage gives the benefit of sexual pleasure and marital rights, while separating themselves from the responsibility of reproduction.”
Roy Moore said anti-gay pastor Tony Spell has a constitutional right to put lives at risk during the coronavirus lockdown.
Roy Moore said that by telling the church to stop holding services, authorities were interfering with the congregation’s “religious liberty”.
He told Fox News: “I’m glad to help Pastor Spell in his fight to preserve our religious liberty.
“Pastor Spell is a man of courage and conviction and knows, as I do, that government cannot interfere with our acknowledgment of the sovereign God.
“What is happening to Pastor Spell is the most egregious violation of separation of church and state.”
In a 2015 interview, Moore refused to say whether he supports gay people being put to death.
The anti-LGBT+ pastor recently said that he wants to go back to a time when “sodomy was illegal”, and same-sex marriage and trans rights did not exist.
