A local Alabama man is using the story of his lesbian daughter’s death to fight against Republican senatorial candidate Roy Moore.
Peanut farmer Nathan Mathis held a sign outside a Roy Moore rally Monday with a photo of his daughter Patti Sue, who killed herself at 23. Mathis wrote on his sign that Moore called his daughter a “pervert,” because of her sexuality, according to the Washington Post.
“Judge Roy Moore called my daughter Patti Sue Mathis a pervert because she was gay,” the sign read. “A 32-year old Roy Moore dated teenage girls ages 14 to 17. So that makes him a pervert of the worst kind.”
Nathan Mathis is here outside the Moore event. He tells me his daughter committed suicide and says Roy Moore called her a pervert because she was gay. “My sign says it all,” he said. pic.twitter.com/5qZnM0IyNJ
— Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) December 11, 2017
Mathis made reference to the fact Moore has been accused of having multiple romantic encounters with underage girls while he was a district attorney in the late 1970s, according to the Washington Post. Moore has denied these encounters happened.
Moore, who has a heavily Christian following, has spoken out against homosexuallity multiple times throughout his campaign, reports The Post. This includes saying that homosexuality “should be illegal,” and calling it “an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it.”
“This is something people need to stop and think about,” Mathis said. “You’re supposed to uphold the Constitution. The Constitution said all men were created equal. But how is my daughter a pervert just because she’s gay?”
Moore is currently battling Democrat Doug Jones for the Senate seat. The special election was called after incumbent Jeff Sessions resigned to become the U.S. Attorney General on Feb. 8.