A candidate for circuit court judge in Pinellas County who recently made anti-Muslim and ant-gay comments on Twitter stood by his views while speaking at an event earlier this week.

  • Family law attorney Donald McBath running for circuit court judge
  • Told prospective voters he'd use "common sense", follow law if elected
  • Called Muslims "deranged," called homosexuality a mental illness in tweets

Family law attorney Donald McBath told potential voters he plans to use common sense and follow the law if he’s elected, despite some of his tweets where he called Muslims "deranged" and said they couldn’t be trusted.

“Unfortunately in their Qoran they want to overthrow our government. They don’t want to follow the U.S. constitution,” McBath said.

The candidate didn’t stop there in terms of sharing his potentially inflammatory beliefs on Twitter. In one tweet he said, “A person with homosexual tendencies that abstains from committing the sin of sodomy, is a man that is trying to live and cope with their mental illness. A person could be healed with the right help from professionals and with the Grace of God.”

When asked about his views on homosexuality at an event on Tuesday McBath doubled down on his comments.

“That’s simple. It’s right in the Bible," he said. "It’s against the laws of God. That’s common sense. It’s totally unnatural."

Even with those views McBath said he would make an effective circuit court judge in Pinellas and Pasco Counties, saying he would give everyone a fair shake in his courtroom, no matter their religion or sexuality.

“If there’s two Muslims that come into the courtroom and I’m a family law judge, one of those Muslims is going to prevail. Somebody’s going to prevail in a divorce," he explained. "Somebody’s going to be given majority time sharing, and so that’s an easy one, and it’s the same with homosexuals."

Advocacy, religious groups react

We showed McBath's tweets to an Imam from a local mosque and got his reaction.

“It really saddens me the fact that there is someone that could possibly have an important public office or be in a position like a judge, for example, that is supposed to uphold justice, have these kind of ideas because people are people. And American Muslims are proud,” said Saad, Imam of the Islamic Society of Pinellas County.

Brian Longstretch with the LGBTQ organization ‘Come Out Saint Pete’ weighed in on the comments, too.

“It’s scary," he said. "I feel like we’ve done a little time warp back to the 60’s where some of these comments seem to be coming from. It’s like you didn’t really think that those people were still around or that they had evolved to where it’s not an issue anymore. To have somebody running for office and openly spouting those views is scary."

McBath said voters shouldn’t be scared, and that as a Christian he loves everyone even if he doesn’t agree with their views.

The primary election for Circuit Court Judge is August 28.