‘Judge’ Roy Moore Once Cited ‘The Laws of Nature’ to Bar a Lesbian Mom From Her Children

Also Compared Homosexuality With Murder, Claimed He Wasn’t

“Judge” Roy Moore in 1996 cited “the laws of the State of Alabama and the Laws of Nature,” and compared homosexuality to murder in aÂ divorce case in which he barred a mother from her own children while unsupervised or with her partner. The mother, Suzanne Scott Borden, had been having a same-sex extramarital affair.Â Moore, at the time a circuit judge,Â was also accused by Borden of saying homosexuality is “evil,” “wrong,” and “of Satan,” although he denied that.

CNN reports that Moore, now the Republican nominee in a December 12 special election for a U.S. Senate seat, wrote “that the ‘minor children will be detrimentally affected by the present lifestyle’ of the mother,”Â in his decision.

“The court strongly feels that the minor children will be detrimentally affected by the present lifestyle of [Mrs. Borden] who has engaged in a homosexual relationship during her marriage, forbidden both by the laws of the State of Alabama and the Laws of Nature,” Moore wrote in his ruling.

Borden’s attorneys attempted to get Moore to recuse himself, citing his known beliefs against homosexuality, and the fact that one of them was an ACLU attorney. The ACLU was suing Moore at the time for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom.

He refused.

On her behalf, Borden’s attorneysÂ submitted an affidavitÂ “in July of 1996 alleging that she heard Moore condemning gay people in a conversation with a man she did not know while she was sitting outside his office.”

Borden quoted Moore as saying, “This goes to show that this is evil. They are wrong and of Satan.”

Moore denied the accusation. He also fought Borden’s attorneys’ attempts to have him removed from the case after he refused to recuse himself. And to “prove” his personal beliefs against homosexuality had no bearing on his ability to decide her case, he compared homosexuality to murder, while claiming he wasn’t.

“Well, as you said, you know, homosexuality is against law,” Moore said, according to the court documents. “Murder is against the 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. Homosexuality is against the law. I can’t recuse, just because homosexuality is against the law.”

Ultimately, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals removed Moore from the case and ordered it be reheard without him.