Watch: Ellen Talks With Alabama Dad Who Protested Roy Moore for Calling His Lesbian Daughter Who Died by Suicide a Pervert

‘The Last Thing We Needed Was Roy Moore in Washington. Roy Moore Needs to Be Somewhere Getting Psychiatric Help’ Says Mathis

Nathan Mathis won America’s heart Monday evening when he stood outside Roy Moore‘s final campaign rally with a sign that said: “Judge Roy Moore called my daughter Patti Sue Mathis a pervert because she was gay. A 32 year old Roy Moore dated teenage girls ages 14 to 17. So that makes him a pervert of the worst kind.”

Mathis, a former elected official and peanut farmer from Wicksburg, Alabama, lost his daughter when she was 23-years old to suicide. He acknowledged he had been anti-gay, and he lives knowing his own words hurt his daughter, even though he grew to accept her before her death.

Mathis sat down with Ellen DeGeneres Friday morning.

He says he watches “Ellen” all the time, “and my home boy tWitch over there.” Star Hip Hop dancer Stephen “tWitch” Boss is from Montgomery, Alabama.

Mathis told Ellen he decided to protest Roy Moore because had he been elected he would have to uphold the Constitution, and the Constitution says all people are created equal.

“Gay people have rights, just like people who are not gay.”

Mathis doesn’t think someone with Roy Moore’s values should be in the U.S. Senate. The people of Alabama Tuesday night agreed, although Moore refuses to concede.

“Patti Sue is very proud of you,” Ellen said. She also noted that Mathis had a tough time when he learned his daughter, who died in 1995, was gay.

“That to me makes it even more beautiful, that you’ve turned around your opinion,” Ellen added.

He told Ellen his daughter asked him to help her “not be gay,” so he took her to a hospital. After all the tests were done the doctor told him there was nothing wrong with her.

“We took her to other doctors, psychiatrists, every one told my daughter, ‘Patti, you can’t help the way you are.’ That’s what made me change.”

Turning to the election, Mathis said: “The last thing we needed was Roy Moore in Washington. Roy Moore needs to be somewhere getting psychiatric help.”

He also told Ellen that he had a hard time getting someone to make his sign denouncing Roy Moore. After he placed the order, the sign maker told him his own son was gay and had rejected God. He refused to make the sign. 

“I knew a little bit about this man’s life and how he lived,” referring to the sign maker, “so I texted him back and I said ‘I’m sorry you feel that way but God also says you shouldn’t be living with another man’s wife.”

The audience cheered.

At the end, Ellen presented a $25,000 check to The Trevor Project in the name of Mathis’ late daughter, Patti Sue Mathis. The Trevor Project is a 24-hour support line for LGBTQ youth and teens considering suicide.

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