An Alabama father who said her daughter took her own life “because she didn’t want to be gay” implored Alabamians during a rally on Monday night not to vote for Roy Moore.
Nathan Mathis, a peanut farmer, reminded voters that the Republican Senate candidate who has faced sexual misconduct allegations throughout his campaign is also anti-gay. In an interview with NBC News, Mathis said he was anti-gay himself until he lost his daughter when she was 23.
“Judge Roy Moore called her a pervert for one reason: because she was gay,” Mathis said. “If he called her a pervert, he called your child a pervert if she was gay or if your son was gay. This is something people need to stop and think about.”
Father, who says he's a local peanut farmer in Wicksburg, outside Roy Moore rally talks about losing his gay daughter at age of 23 to suicide. "I was anti-gay myself. I said bad things to my daughter, which I regret." pic.twitter.com/J0oOU0EJI2
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) December 11, 2017
At the rally on the eve of Moore’s election, Mathis held a photo of his daughter, Patti Sue, and a sign that said “Please don’t vote for Roy Moore!”
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 (@AndrewDesiderio) December 11, 2017
Mathis clarified that he’s not claiming Moore had a direct impact on his daughter’s death.
“I’m not suggesting that,” Mathis said. “I was anti-gay myself. I said bad things to my daughter myself, which I regret. But I can’t take back what happened to my daughter. But stuff like saying my daughter is a pervert — sure, that bothered her.”
Moore, who is running against Democrat Doug Jones in the special election Tuesday, has a history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. In 2005, he said that “homosexual conduct should be illegal.” He also said in a court decision that homosexuality is a “crime against nature, an inherent evil.”
In 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalized gay marriage, Moore said, “I think it will … literally cause the destruction of our country.”
Multiple women have said Moore sexually assaulted or engaged in sexual misconduct with them when they were minors. Mathis accused Moore of hypocrisy for his anti-gay stance given the allegations against him.
“My daughter was a good person,” Mathis told CNN. “My daughter was not no damn pervert, as Roy Moore called her. Roy Moore, by going out with those teenage girls, he does not deserve to be in the United States Senate.”
For more information about suicide prevention or to speak with someone confidentially, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (U.S.) or Samaritans (U.K.).