Homophobic Remarks Disgrace the Court

There may or may not be good reason for the Alabama Supreme Court to have validated the custody determination in this case (“Judge Calls Being Lesbian ‘Detestable,’ ” Feb. 16). But the interjection in the written decision of wording such as homosexuality being “an inherent evil” that shouldn’t be tolerated, and that homosexuality is “abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature” speaks to an era of bigotry that has no place in this country.

Quoting Scripture and displaying the Ten Commandments are the shield behind which all of the great injustices of hate have been carried out in the past. Chief Justice Roy Moore and his cronies on the court need to be purged from our system of justice. They have no business making decisions that affect the rights and lives of people. Unfortunately, there is a dementia of power that will make these judges unable to understand that the rest of the country now sees them disrobed and without honor. But as a country we should now expect that they will be formally removed from the bench, and soon.

Ian L. Sitren

Santa Ana

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How ironic that the day I began reading a book about the famous civil rights march on Selma, Ala., I read a story in The Times about the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court taking children away from their mother solely because she is a lesbian. How little things have changed there! The judge did so with hate spewing from his mouth--just as it did in 1965. How much longer will it take before hatred and bigotry are truly in the past?

Steven Afriat

Sherman Oaks