The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website November 9, 2017:
Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has made many righteous comments about morality, God and sex in his past as a jurist and politician. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
In his nearly three decades of public service, Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has styled himself as one of the most religiously righteous politicians of the modern era. At times, he has expressed his righteousness in terms of sex.
But now, Moore himself has been accused of sexual impropriety. One woman who spoke to The Washington Post said Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s, while three other women accused Moore of trying to start romantic relationships with them when they were teenagers.
In The Washington Post report, one woman accused Moore of driving her to his house in the woods, stripping down to his underwear, stripping her down to her underwear and trying to touch her. She was 14. Luring a minor into a home to have sex is a felony under Alabama law, punishable up by to 10 years in prison.
Some of what Moore is accused of would have been illegal under Alabama law. Moore called the allegations “fake news” and politically motivated, suggesting he, too, thinks potential sexual relations with someone twice his age is immoral.
In light of all that, here’s a running list of the many, many righteous things Moore has said about sex, morality and sexual morality over the years:
1. “Our first president said that virtue of morality was a necessary spring of popular government. He said who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference on attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric [of society].” — Moore in a September debate with GOP primary opponent Sen. Luther Strange. Moore won the primary.
Roy Moore, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alabama, said during a debate on Sept. 21 that “crime, corruption, immorality, abortion, sodomy, sexual perversion sweep our land.” (WKRG)
2. “Our foundation has been shaken. Crime, corruption, immortality, abortion, sodomy, sexual perversion sweep our land. When we become one nation under God again, when liberty and justice for all reigns across our land. We will be truly good again. And then we will be straight.” — Moore in that September GOP primary debate
3. “I want to get freed from political correctness and social experimentation, like transgester troops in our bathroom and inclusiveness.” — Moore in that September GOP primary debate
4. “Homosexual behavior is a ground for divorce, an act of sexual misconduct punishable as a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it.” — Moore in a 2002 state circuit court opinion when he ruled against a woman who had come out as a lesbian in her custody case.
5. Being gay “would render him or her an unfit parent” — Moore in that same 2002 court opinion
6. “[M]inor children will be detrimentally affected by the present lifestyle”— Moore in a 1990s divorce case as he ruled against a woman who had a lesbian affair, according to CNN
7. “[H]omosexuality is against law. I don’t recuse for every criminal that comes up, and I’m not comparing criminality with this conduct, but if somebody that commits a murder comes up before my court, I’m not going to recuse them, because that’s against what I believe, and it’s also against the law” — Moore in a 1990s court opinion, as CNN reported. A higher court agreed to remove Moore from the case because of his beliefs.
8. “Homosexual conduct should be illegal” — 2005 C-SPAN2 interview, first unearthed by CNN
9. “Do you know that bestiality, the relationship between man and beast is prohibited in every state?” — Moore in that same 2005 C-SPAN interview. The host asked: “Did I ask you about having sex with a cow? Or a horse or a dog?” Moore replied: “It’s the same thing.”
10. “[A]n inherent evil against which children must be protected” — Moore on homosexuality, according to The Post’s Act of Faiths blog
11. “We have forgotten the source of our rights. We put ourselves above God. And in so doing, we forgot the basic source of our morality.” — Moore preaching at a church appearance on the campaign trail this September.
12. “I’ve been accused of saying I want to kill homosexuals because the Bible says. And I don’t.” — Moore to The Washington Post’s Michael Scherer in September
13. “Sodomy is against the laws of nature” — Moore to Scherer, before comparing it to a man or woman who has sex with a donkey.
View the post here.