Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy
S. Moore last week insisted that gay people have the right to marry,
provided they marry a person of the opposite sex.
Moore, an outspoken opponent of
marriage equality, attempted to block a federal judge's ruling
declaring unconstitutional Alabama's ban on gay marriage by ordering
probate judges to ignore the ruling. A majority of judges initially
followed Moore's directions but most later reversed course. Moore
has also said that he would not follow a Supreme Court order
invalidating restrictive state marriage bans.
(Related: Roy
Moore says he won't follow a Supreme Court order invalidating state
gay marriage bans.)
The issue in Alabama became
increasingly confusing when the Alabama Supreme Court ordered probate
judges to stop
issuing such licenses.
Appearing last week on Fusion's
America, Moore incorrectly told host Jorge Ramos that 36
states have “been forced by federal courts to get rid of their
constitutional amendments and state statutes.”
“I'm not saying people don't have
rights. It's not about rights,” he
said. “And everybody has the same right to enter the
institution of marriage by marrying a person of the opposite sex.”
Moore dismissed comparisons between gay
rights and civil rights, saying they are not the same.
“You're talking about sexual
preference, that's a completely different matter. It's not a civil
right to choose what sex you wanna be.”
“Do you think that people choose to
be gay or not to be gay?” Ramos asked.
“I'm saying, that's what you choose.
That's not the way you were born. … You're born male or female.
You can't choose to be a woman by transgender.”
“Did you choose to be heterosexual?”
“I didn't choose it, that's the way I
am,” Moore answered.