Way Back Wednesday: The Time Roy Moore Said 'Homosexual Conduct Should Be Illegal'

Roy Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, pulled off a victory despite efforts by top Republicans, defeating his rival Sen. Luther Strange in a special primary runoff Tuesday.

Moore, who was supported by fellow evangelical Christians, has a long history of inflammatory rhetoric and an appalling history when it comes to LGBTQ rights.

CNN shared a 2005 interview this week, in which Moore said that he believes "homosexual conduct" should be illegal. His comments came while speaking with liberal commentator Bill Press on C-SPAN2's "After Words." Moore stopped by the show to promote his book about his expulsion from the court for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument.

Press brought up the 2003 landmark Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the state's law banning sodomy.

"What I think is that it was illegal under the law, that the Supreme Court usurped the role of the legislature and ruled something about our moral law that is improper, and that's what we're finding the Supreme Court and the federal district courts are doing daily," Moore said. "They've usurped the moral prerogative, now, if you want -- "

Press cut off Moore, saying:

"I don't understand your answer. I think it's a yes or no. Do you think that homosexual -- homosexuality, or homosexual conduct should be illegal today? That's a yes or no question."

"Homosexual conduct should be illegal, yes," Moore answered.

Moore's opinions don't seem to have changed, CNN notes. In 2015, he made similar comments in a YouTube video where he was asked, "Do you still think that homosexuality should be illegal?"

"I think homosexuality should be illegal," he said. "Sodomy was declared illegal by the United States Supreme Court in 1987, it said there was no right under the constitution to enlarge the fundamental rights of homosexuals."

"But then they came back and overturned it," the interviewer said.

"Well surely they overturned it. They didn't go by their own precedent, did they?" Moore responded.

Furthermore, CNN reports Moore repeatedly appeared on a radio show hosted by a pastor who calls for the death penalty for being gay. During Moore's 2005 interview with Press, the host asks why the government should ban what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their homes. Moore then compared gay sex to bestiality.

"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.

"Did I ask you about having sex with a cow?" Press responded.

"No you didn't," Moore said.

"Or a horse, or a dog?" Press asked.

"It's the same thing," Moore said.

"No it's not. You mean homosexuality is same thing as bestiality?" Press asked.

"It is a moral precept upon which this country was founded," Moore said.

Click here to watch Moore's full interview with Press. Below, watch Moore's 2015 comments.