The Alabama Supreme Court ruled 9-0 last week to overturn an appeals court ruling that awarded custody of three children to their mother, who happens to be a lesbian.The appeals court overturned a trial court decision because it found evidence of abuse by the father and judged that the mother, who lives in Los Angeles, was fit to take care of the children. In its decision, the Supreme Court stated that the appeals court had “impermissibly reweighed the evidence in the case.”
There must be some merit to what the court is saying, especially since one of its best minds, Justice Gorman Houston, author-ed the opinion. But still, something seems amiss here. There are allegations of abuse, yet the justices still see fit to place the children in what could be an abusive environment. This unfortunately drifts into the realm of family law where common law, but not common sense rules the day.
Far more disturbing, however, is a 35-page concurring tirade written by Chief Justice Roy Moore that followed Judge Houston’s opinion.
Here we have a man who does not seem to be concerned with the welfare of these three children or the law and very concerned with using this case as a stage in which to scream out his anti-homosexual opinion.
Right off the bat, Judge Moore seeks not to get to the nut of the legal issue, or the perceived mistakes made by the appeals court, but what he views as immoral.
Judge Moore began,“I write especially to state that the homosexual conduct of a parent, conduct involving a sexual relationship between two persons of the same gender creates a strong presumption of unfitness that alone is sufficient justification for denying that parent custody of his or her own children or prohibiting the adoption of the children of others.”
What’s immoral here is Judge Moore’s opinion. Let’s consider for a moment that the allegations of abuse were true, that the Supreme Court found them to be true.
What would Judge Moore’s opinion be then?
Judging from his rant, he would still be more willing to put the children in with an abusive father than to have them be around their biological mother who happened to be lesbian.
That is wrong. That is immoral.
And then we have Judge Moore saying, “the common law designates homosexuality as an inherent evil…”
Who, we might ask, is evil here? A mother who is concerned about the welfare of her children or a man who wishes to paint that woman and everyone else on this planet who is a homosexual as unworthy, unfit, immoral and evil?
