Earlier this month, Moore said, "The transgenders don't have rights," during a news conference, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

Moore's unapologetic positions — and his repeated promises to take them to the U.S. Senate if elected on Dec. 12 — were celebrated at Thursday's news conference by the religious leaders who traveled from as far as Colorado, Ohio and Texas to stand at his side.

Rabbi Noson Leiter, who once called Hurricane Sandy's destruction "divine justice" for same-sex marriage, lashed out at "homosexualist gay terrorism."

"We need Judge Moore to stand up to the LGBT transgender mafia," Leiter said. He added, "We need someone with a proven record of facing off against the gay terrorists."

Another Moore supporter, Texas Christian activist Steven Hotze, warned in 2015 that children would be "encouraged to practice sodomy in kindergarten" as a result of same-sex marriage. On Thursday, Hotze refused to describe the union of two gay people as marriage: "It's 'mirage' because it's just like a mirage — it's phony and it's fake."

North Carolina-based Christian activist Flip Benham last year warned in a Charlotte City Council meeting that the policies that protect the civil rights of transgender people would trigger "bloodshed coursing down the corners of our streets."

"We're praising everything that God says is wrong and will destroy you," he said Thursday. "Homosexual sodomy destroys those who participate in that behavior and nations that approve of it."

He offered a pointed message to Moore's critics: God "doesn't send anyone to hell. It's a place you choose to go."

Benham then turned to Moore, who was sitting a few feet away with his wife. "You got the applause of heaven."