A Christian group founded by suspended
Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore has blamed a drag queen for
his effective ouster.
A nine-member court on Friday suspended
Moore without pay for the remainder of his term, which ends in 2019.
Because of his age, 69, Moore cannot run for the office again.
(Related: Alabama
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore suspended for remainder of
term.)
The Foundation for Moral Law, which
Moore founded and led until he was reelected to the state's highest
court, is helmed by Moore's wife, Kayla Moore.
In a press release, Kayla Moore claimed
that an “unelected group of people, mostly Democrats, have
overturned an election of the people of Alabama.”
“All these efforts are being led by a
guy who dresses up like a woman and prances around on the stage,”
she added, a reference to Ambrosia Starling, a drag queen who called
for Moore's removal.
At a Montgomery rally in January,
Starling said: “The message that I would personally like to send to
Roy Moore today is that bullying and discrimination are not
ministerial duties. Taking people's civil rights is not a
ministerial duty. It is the duty of a judge to treat all citizens of
their state and their nation equally and fairly. We would not be
here today if Roy Moore was a fair and unbiased judge.”
In denouncing his critics, Moore
singled out Starling, telling reporters at a press conference that
Starling was a person who only a few years ago would have been
diagnosed with gender confusion disorder.