Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore on
Thursday insisted that gay marriage bans are about sexual preference,
not discrimination.
Moore set up a showdown between federal
and state courts when he ordered probate judges to defy a federal
judge's rulings striking down Alabama's ban on gay marriage. A
majority of judges followed Moore's order; many stopped issuing
marriage licenses altogether.
On Thursday, a federal judge ordered
Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis, who was following Moore's
advice, to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
(Related: Federal
judge orders Mobile to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay
couples.)
Appearing on CNN's New Day,
Moore disagreed with Chris Cuomo's assertion that Alabama's
restrictive marriage ban discriminates on the basis of sexual
orientation.
“This is not about discrimination,”
Moore stated. “It's about sexual preference … overcoming an
institution which has existed in our state, in our United States, for
centuries. And I think it's wrong.”
When asked whether he would follow a
Supreme Court decision striking down state marriage bans, Moore
responded by asking Cuomo whether he would “follow the order in
Dred Scott saying black people are property or would you follow the
order in Plessy v. Ferguson that said separate but equal was
the policy of the United States?”
“It's not my place to answer,”
Cuomo answered. “You cannot duck your responsibilities by putting
them on me, your honor. They didn't elect me to be chief justice.”
“If I can't follow what the Supreme
Court says, I'll recuse from the case,” Moore answered. (The video
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