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Here’s the abridged version of Roy Moore’s most virulently antigay comments

Here’s the abridged version of Roy Moore’s most virulently antigay comments

When Roy Moore wakes up in the morning, he must say to himself, “So much homophobia, so little time.”

The Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from Alabama, Moore exhibits a virulent hatred of gay people not seen since the days of the late, unlamented Sen. Jesse Helms. After all, Moore was canned from his job on the state Supreme Court for refusing to recognize the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling.

Of course, Moore is used to losing that job, having been booted once before for refusing to take down a copy of the Ten Commandments. Contempt of court seems like small potatoes after violating the separation of Church and State.

Moore finds himself under siege now, facing multiple accusations of preying on young–occasionally underage–girls when he was in his 30s. But even that doesn’t seem to be a disqualifying feature for Moore’s followers, and his path to the Senate, while less certain than it should be for a Republican in Alabama, is hardly closed to him.

For his hard-core followers, Moore can do no wrong. As for his homophobia, that’s a feature for the candidate, not a bug.

Picking some of the most anti-gay moments from Moore’s career isn’t easy, because the pickings are so many. But here’s a rundown of the worst of worst from the would-be United States Senator.

Called for the death sentence for gay people

Might as well start with the very worst. In the course of a custody ruling involving a mother who came out as a lesbian, Moore went on a tear about what society must do to eliminate homosexuality. The best way, in his view, was to eliminate homosexuals, either by jailing them, or even better, “physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution.” (Now Moore says he doesn’t believe in the death penalty for gay people.)

Homosexuality should be outlawed and is comparable to bestiality

In a 2005 interview, Moore managed to pull a homophobic two-fer. Compared being gay to bestiality. “Homosexual conduct should be illegal,” Moore told interviewer Bill Press. As if that wasn’t extreme enough, Moore piled on. “Just because it’s done behind closed doors, it can still be prohibited by state law,” he argued. “Do you know that bestiality, the relationship between man and beast is prohibited in every state?”

When Press asked him if he was equating sex with animals to being gay, Moore answered, “It is a moral precept upon which this country was founded.”

An abusive father is better than a lesbian mother

In the same ruling in which he called for gays to be executed, Moore was faced with a custody decision. The choices: a father who was accused (with evidence) of being verbally, emotionally and physically abusive to his children and a mother who came out as a  lesbian. Roy picked the father. He excused the father’s behavior as  “occasional excessive disciplinary measures,” while spending a fair amount of his ruling railing homosexuality as “abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature…an inherent evil against which children must be protected.”

Moore’s decision was overturned in a unanimous ruling by the state Supreme Court.

Transgender people have no rights

Or in Moore’s quaint rendering “the transgenders.” Moore complained that his opponent, Doug Jones, “believes in transgender bathrooms and transgenders in the military.” Moore, on the other hand, wants to impeach the federal judge who blocked President Trump’s ban on transgender military personnel.

Thinks Putin is on the right track

Russian crackdown on gays? Right up Moore’s alley. In an interview last summer, he mused that “Maybe Putin is right. Maybe he’s more akin to me than I know.”

Marriage equality is a source of almost endless hostility for Moore. Here’s just a smattering of his rancor.

A full accounting of Moore’s homophobia would run for pages. (Right Wing Watch has a nice rundown , if you have the stomach for more.) Suffice it to say that as much of a disaster that Moore has been for Alabama, he has the potential to be an even greater one for the entire country if elected.

His hatred knows no bounds, and he’ll happily inflict it on the entire nation.

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