Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore joined with an African-American pastors coalition and other conservative leaders Monday to defend the Texas constitutional ban against same-sex marriage.
Moore, who recently instructed Alabama’s state probate judges not to issue same-sex marriage licenses according to a federal court’s ruling, traveled to Texas to keynote the event, a My Fox Austin report states. The chief justice said that states need to stand up to the federal government.
Moore and Rev. Bill Owens, president of the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP), have called upon U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan to recuse themselves from the upcoming decision the high court will render on same-sex marriage. Both Ginsburg and Kagan have officiated at same-sex marriages.
“No court has the authority to redefine what God proposed in Genesis,” he said, arguing that the Constitution does not give federal courts precedent over domestic policy on family and marriage.
“I’m a judge and normally judges don’t speak out but if I should hold back my opinions I would consider myself guilty of treason toward my country,” Moore said.
The rally was hosted by the Conservative Republicans of Texas, led by Dr. Steve Hotze.
LGBT rights group Equality Texas lobbied state lawmakers inside the Capitol on what was referred to as “family advocacy day.”
“We think this is going to happen and we will have full equality at some point in our life time and I’m not sure we always thought that,” said Andy Miller, who has raised his son with his partner Brian Stephens. “We feel this is the last gasp of prejudice and bigotry. It never goes away completely but we feel the momentum is on the side of equality.”
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) said, “It’s not about being anti-anyone but being for marriage between a man and a woman.”
“A Justice of the Supreme Court is called on to avoid the appearance of bias—especially on a highly controversial and sensitive issue that is currently before the Court,” said Owens in a recent press release. “And yet, both Justice Ginsburg and Justice Kagan have taken a public stance in favor of same-sex marriage, even going so far as to officiate at a same-sex wedding.”
“Not only is this a breach of ethics, but it calls into question the integrity of the Court and the supposed balance that the judicial branch is meant to provide in Constitutional interpretation,” he continued. “It is beyond objectionable that no action has yet been taken to ensure that the case will be adjudicated fairly. And so it falls to us, the people, to take action.”
Owens and his coalition have been highly critical of attempts by both President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to portray the same-sex marriage movement as another civil rights campaign.
In February of 2014, CAAP announced a campaign to call for the impeachment of Attorney General Eric Holder on the basis that he has violated his oath of office by “attempting to impose same-sex ‘marriage’ throughout the nation.”
“President Obama is a disgrace to the black community,” Owens said. “He is rewriting history. We didn’t suffer and die for gay marriage. We marched for opportunity, equality, justice, freedom from oppression. We are the true heirs of the civil rights movement. We have a new movement to reclaim the ‘real’ civil rights movement.”
CAAP has launched a new initiative called RISE, a grassroots network that unites “people of every race, creed, culture, and background” to focus on defending faith, family, and justice.
“The LGBT community hijacked our movement, a movement they know nothing about,” Owens recently told Breitbart News. “President Obama is delusional to compare our struggle with the struggle for marriage equality. Gays have not had fire hoses or dogs unleashed at them. They have not been hung from trees or denied basic human rights.”
“President Obama didn’t march,” Owens continued. “He has benefited from those of us who did march, but for President Obama to say we marched so that gays would have the right to marry today, is a disgrace and a lie.”
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