Ala. Senate hopeful Moore in 2005: Homosexuality should be illegal

Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore reportedly said in a 2005 interview that “homosexual conduct” should be illegal.

“Homosexual conduct should be illegal, yes,” Moore told liberal commentator Bill Press on C-SPAN2’s “After Words,” CNN’s “KFile” first reported Thursday.

The former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, known for his hard-line conservative Christian beliefs and controversial remarks, said the Supreme Court and the other courts below it “usurped the role of the legislature and ruled something about our moral law that is improper.”

Moore pointed to the landmark Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas in which the court ruled in 2003 that a state law banning sodomy was unconstitutional, spurring law changes in other states across the U.S.

{mosads}Moore, who opposed the court decision, appeared to harbor these views over a decade later when he wrote 50 letters to every governor in the country asking them to hold a constitutional convention with the goal of banning gay marriage, the report highlights.

Moore, who has been largely against LGBT rights throughout his career, compared same-sex intercourse to bestiality in the interview after being asked if the government should prohibit gay sex if done so in private quarters.

“Just because it’s done behind closed doors, it can still be prohibited by state law. Do you know that bestiality, the relationship between man and beast, is prohibited in every state?” Moore asked Press.

“Did I ask you about having sex with a cow?” Press asked in return, to which Moore eventually called it “the same thing.”

“No, it’s not. You mean homosexuality is the same thing as bestiality?” Press shot back.

“It is a moral precept upon which this country was founded,” responded Moore, who has a history of making controversial remarks.

A spokesman for Moore’s campaign declined CNN’s request to respond to the candidate’s current position on homosexuality.

Moore, who appears to be the conservative front-runner in the race so far, finished first in Alabama’s GOP primary last month. Since he received 41 percent of the vote and not a majority, he is set to face off against Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) in a runoff on Tuesday.

The winner of the runoff will face Democratic nominee Doug Jones in a December general election.