Huckabee's Agenda

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) likes to portray himself as a likable guy who would like to run for president, but beneath that folksy veneer beats the heart of a hard-hearted bigot who has no problem whatsoever seeing the LGBT community of Americans as second-class citizens and who he can easily dismiss as nothing but an interest group with an "agenda."

Even civil unions are “not necessary,” Huckabee said. “I think there’s been a real level of being disingenuous on the part of the gay and lesbian community with their goal of civil unions,” he alleged, referring to LGBT activists who first claimed that their goal in several states was to enact civil unions, but subsequently launched efforts to implement full marriage rights.

Huckabee went on to draw parallels between homosexuality and other lifestyles that are considered by some to be morally aberrant. “You don’t go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal,” he said of same-sex marriage. “That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let’s go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them.”

He also thinks that gays and lesbians are unfit parents and should be prohibited from adopting children or acting as foster parents.

“I think this is not about trying to create statements for people who want to change the basic fundamental definitions of family,” Huckabee said. “And always we should act in the best interest of the children, not in the seeming interest of the adults.”

“Children are not puppies,” he continued. “This is not a time to see if we can experiment and find out, how does this work?”

I could go on a long and impassioned rant about the lies, stereotypes and marginalization that is embedded in the words of this presidential hopeful, but I have learned that trying to explain that equal rights -- be they marriage, family structure, or just the right to live within a community -- apply to everyone to people who share the views of Mr. Huckabee is a waste of time; they are so ensnared by their hatred and bigotry that they are beyond reason. If there is any group that should be shunned from our community, it is the people who hate other people so much based on superstition and visceral fear that they are willing to destroy the lives of people they don't even know.

As for Mr. Huckabee, he is exploiting the fear and loathing for his own agenda of political gain. He may coat it in sweet sauce, but it is pure, undiluted hatred.

Cross-posted.