wfn.org | Title: UFMCC Head Calls for Resignation of Alabama's Chief

[UfmccHq@aol.com]

 From The Headquarters
of Metropolitan Community Churches

Head of Metropolitan Community Churches, Veteran Human Rights Activist,
Calls for Resignation of Alabama Supreme Court Justice
Judge Called for Incarceration, Execution of Gays and Lesbians

A Message From
The Rev. Troy D. Perry

FEBRUARY 22, 2002

Today, I am adding my voice to the many voices of faith and conscience around 
the world in calling for the resignation of Alabama Supreme Court Chief 
Justice Roy Moore.

Justice Moore, in his ruling this past week in a custody case involving a 
lesbian parent, called for the confinement and execution of homosexuals, 
imposing his own draconian morality on the judicial system and upon the 
citizens of Alabama.

In the court's decision, Justice Moore wrote, "The State carries the power of 
the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, 
such as confinement and even execution. It must use that power to prevent the 
subversion of children toward this lifestyle, to not encourage criminal 
lifestyle." The official court opinion also described homosexuality as 
"abhorrent, immoral, detestable...a violation of nature's God upon which this 
Nation was founded...and...an inherent evil."

Many people of faith who know the Christian Scriptures will recognize that 
Justice Moore has simply lifted words from the Bible, twisted the meaning of 
those words to fit his own personal biases, and then imposed them as law upon 
the citizens of Alabama. This is unconscionable.

As a former citizen of Alabama, who attended junior high and high schools in 
Mobile and Prichard, Alabama, I value my deep and personal connections with 
the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities of Alabama.

I am all the more horrified that this legal decision was rendered in the same 
state in which Billy Jack Gaither was savagely murdered solely for being gay, 
and in which a recent survey by the University of Alabama found that 44% of 
Alabama's lesbians and gays had been targets of anti-gay abuse in their 
families, 39% in their neighborhoods, and 48% in the workplace.

As the Founder and Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches, I also wish 
to note that there are six predominantly gay MCC churches across Alabama. I 
have frequently visited these churches and I know these congregations. I have 
observed firsthand the many GLBT parents in Alabama who are raising 
wonderful, loving, healthy children -- and the thousands of GLBT citizens of 
Alabama who seek nothing more and nothing less than equality under the law. I 
salute all the members of Metropolitan Community Churches across Alabama who 
are uniting with human rights groups to fight injustice and to work for 
equality under the law.

Justice Moore's decision contains some of the most biased and hate-filled 
propaganda to come out of a governmental authority since Nazi Germany.

Not since the Jim Crow laws of an earlier day, have I seen such prejudice and 
hostility towards a minority group endorsed by any government agency within 
the United States.

As an act of solidarity with the gay and lesbian citizens of Alabama, I call 
upon all people of goodwill to follow the recommendations and actions offered 
by GLBT and human rights groups in Alabama

Today, I am inviting all people of goodwill to join me in prayers for the 
lesbian mother and her three children involved in this custody case -- and in 
support for all the citizens of Alabama who are seeking effective ways to 
right this injustice.

And I am adding my voice to a growing international chorus calling for the 
immediate resignation of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and 
for the appropriate authorities to open investigations into this miscarriage 
of justice.

/signed/
The Rev. Troy D. Perry
Office of the Moderator
Metropolitan Community Churches

(END)

For Additional Information, Contact:
Jim Birkitt
MCC Communications Director
8704 Santa Monica Boulevard, Second Floor
West Hollywood, CA  90069
Tel. (310) 360-8640, Ext. 226
E-Mail: info@MCCchurch.org
Website: www.MCCchurch.org