Larry Langford

Larry Paul Langford (March 18, 1946 – January 8, 2019) was an American politician who had a one-term tenure as the mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama.

At the time of his death, Langford was hospitalized on compassionate release from serving a 15-year federal prison sentence.

Langford was born in Birmingham on March 18, 1946.

He graduated from A. H. Parker High School before entering the United States Air Force.

Langford was a reporter for WBRC-6, which at the time was the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, during the mid 1970s.

He was the community's first African-American TV news reporter.

He was later a public relations director for a Birmingham Budweiser distributor.

Prior to entering politics, Langford was a well known local television personality.

He graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree in social and behavioral sciences.

Langford, who converted to Catholicism in 1996, was both praised and criticized for the degree to which his Christian faith informed his political agenda.

He held Bible studies for municipal workers at City Hall each week and was a frequent speaker at public prayer services and church events.

Langford, a Democrat, was elected to the county commission in 2002.

His colleagues on the five-member commission elected Langford as commission president, the first African-American to hold the office.

He also served as mayor of Fairfield, Alabama, and served one term on the Birmingham City Council.

Langford raised money and generated public interest and support for Visionland Theme Park (now known as Alabama Splash Adventure), located near Bessemer.

The park was built largely by bond issues backed by a consortium of municipalities in the western part of the county, as well as the city of Birmingham and the county government.

The park later declared bankruptcy, and was sold to Southland Entertainment Group for just over $5 million at auction.

As Fairfield mayor, Langford spoke publicly many times about his plans to run for higher office, particularly Governor of Alabama.

After the bankruptcy of Visionland, Langford's political fortunes seemed to wane, and his talk of higher office diminished.

After losing the county commission presidency, Langford announced on June 5, 2007, that he would run for mayor of Alabama's largest city.

Langford stunned many when he emerged as a top contender in a field of 10 candidates that included incumbent mayor Bernard Kincaid.

Preliminary results credited him with 26,277 of 52,111 votes cast in the election, meaning that he avoided a runoff with challenger Patrick Cooper by 170 votes.

Cooper then challenged the election in court, saying that Langford was still a resident of Fairfield and did not legally reside within Birmingham's city limits.

Cooper later withdrew his case after a judge declared Langford's downtown loft a legal residence.

While in office Langford was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an anti-gun group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets and that at the time was co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Langford was long a proponent of a domed stadium for the city, intended to replace the aging Legion Field as a venue for football on the collegiate and professional levels.

He previously promoted a tax hike to pay for the dome, which was soundly rejected by voters a decade earlier under then-Mayor Richard Arrington, although later analysis of votes showed an overwhelming support for the dome inside city limits.

After taking office as Birmingham mayor, Langford vowed that a domed stadium would be built in the city no matter what.

On April 22, 2008, Langford issued a proclamation on city letterhead proclaiming the following Friday to be "It's Time to Pray" in the City of Birmingham.

He called upon "all Bishops, Priests, Pastors, Ministers and all of our citizens of various denominations and creeds" to join him in donning burlap sacks and having their heads smeared with ashes during a prayer rally at Boutwell Auditorium.

Inspired by a custom described in the Bible of putting on “sackcloth with ashes” as a sign of mourning, the display was intended to show humility and restore God's favor to a city Langford described as wracked with violence.

Anticipating complaints from defenders of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, Langford stated that "the Constitution of the United States calls for a separation of church and state – it never said anything about a separation of church from state."

Langford injured relations with the Birmingham LGBT community in May 2008 when he refused to sign a proclamation for the annual Central Alabama Pride Parade, an event that had been held on the city's south side every year since 1989.

He refused to allow banners on city property for the event.

Langford further stated that it was inappropriate for the government to condone a lifestyle.

He was quoted as saying: "My policy is don't ask because it's not my business, and don't put me in the position to make it my business."

"I thought I had stated my position very clearly. If I were to sign the permit to put up banners on city right of ways I would be condoning that which I don't condone," he said.

"To give a proclamation is totally under the purview of the mayor."

Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ legal advocacy group, and Birmingham civil rights attorney David Gespass filed suit on behalf of the Central Alabama Pride group against Larry Langford seeking an order from the courts to prohibit the mayor from discriminating against LGBTQ organizations in administering city services.

The organization hoped to use a ruling in their favor to discourage further discriminatory practices in Birmingham and other cities where the legal precedent would apply.