Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organisation, hailed a decision by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary to suspend anti-LGBTQ Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore from the bench for the remainder of his term, due to his unethical and extralegal actions surrounding marriage equality.
Moore will remain on the bench, but will not receive a salary and he will be unable to make any legal decisions. Moore’s term is up in 2018, and he will be unable to run for the office of Supreme Court justice again in Alabama as he will be past the office’s age restriction. The nine-member Court of the Judiciary found Moore unanimously guilty of all six charges brought against him.
“Roy Moore has flagrantly and wilfully attempted to block marriage equality at every turn in Alabama, using his position of power to push a personal, radically anti-LGBTQ agenda. We are thrilled that justice has been done today and he will no longer be able to use the bench to discriminate against people he had taken an oath to to protect,” said Eva Kendrick, state manager for the Human Rights Campaign, Alabama. “Roy Moore’s bigoted rhetoric and unethical actions harmed LGBTQ Alabamians and emboldened those who would seek to hurt us further. We hope this is a turning point for our state. We must focus on electing politicians and judges who will move us forward, not backward.”
Earlier this year, HRC Alabama initiated the #NoMoore campaign to remove Moore from the Alabama Supreme Court for his blatant legal and ethical failings. HRC Alabama called out Moore’s discriminatory behaviour with a billboard in downtown Montgomery, and held rallies and press conferences outside each of Moore’s ethics hearings — including Wednesday’s final hearing. This marks the second time Moore has faced negative consequences for pushing his personal agenda from the state’s highest court.
Last year, HRC and other civil rights organizations joined the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) ethics complaint with the Judicial Inquiry Commission of Alabama, seeking Moore’s removal for violating the obligations of his office. The complaint details Moore’s blatant disregard for the law, including communications in which he urges Governor Robert Bentley and members of the Alabama Probate Judges Association to ignore federal court rulings striking down the state’s ban on marriage equality.
In 2014, HRC launched Project One America, an initiative geared towards advancing social, institutional and legal equality in Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. HRC Alabama continues to work to advance equality for LGBTQ Alabamians who have no state level protections in housing, workplace, or public accommodations. Through HRC Alabama, we are working toward a future of fairness every day — changing hearts, minds and laws toward achieving full equality.
Photo By אנדר-ויק (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
