Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Mike Huckabee's 'moral values' include lies about gay community

Huckabee has no problem lying about gays.
As you all know, former Arkansas governor and current radio show host Mike Huckabee has called for a "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" to blunt the criticism the restaurant has been receiving for its negative view of lgbtq equality.

One part of Huckabee's statement announcing this day struck me as odd:

Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we're considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant.
So Huckabee claims that folks like him are "affirming traditional values."

If we were to take a look at Huckabee's past statements he made about the lgbtq community, we would see that apparently his idea of 'affirming traditional values" is to attack the gay community with lies.

Huckabee has made so many ugly and false statements about the gay community that Media Matters for America was able to catalogue them. Here are just a few:

Huckabee Made Virulent Anti-Gay Comments As A Public Official

As A Public Official, Huckabee Called Homosexuality An "Aberration" And Condemned The Government For Supporting It Along With Pedophilia, Sadomasochism, And Necrophilia. In a 2007 appearance on Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Huckabee about his assertion in a 1998 book claiming "it is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations -- from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia." Huckabee responded that "all of these are deviations from what has been considered the traditional concept of sexual behavior." Russert also asked Huckabee about his assertion in 1992 that "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle." Huckabee responded that "all of us are sinners." [Towelroad.com, 1/2/08]

Huckabee Claimed That Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Is Like Legalizing Drug Use, Incest, And Polygamy. 

From an April 9, 2010 article concerning an interview Huckabee gave to the College of New Jersey's magazine The Perspective:

He continues to oppose any government recognition of same-sex relationships. 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." [The Perspective, 4/9/10]

Huckabee Said He Opposes Same-Sex Marriage, In Part, Because Of The "Ick Factor." 

From a June 28, 2010 New Yorker article:

One afternoon in Jerusalem, while Huckabee was eating a chocolate croissant in the lounge of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, I asked him to explain his rationale for opposing gay rights. "I do believe that God created male and female and intended for marriage to be the relationship of the two opposite sexes," he said. "Male and female are biologically compatible to have a relationship. We can get into the ick factor, but the fact is two men in a relationship, two women in a relationship, biologically, that doesn't work the same."

I asked him if he had any arguments that didn't have to do with God or ickiness. "There are some pretty startling studies that show if you want to end poverty it's not education and race, it's monogamous marriage," he said. "Many studies show that children who grow up in a healthy environment where they have both a mother and a father figure have both a healthier outlook and a different perspective from kids who don't have the presence of both." [New Yorker, 6/28/10]

And let's not forget the recent segment of his radio show in which he, while talking to a victim of child molestation, falsely connected homosexuality with pedophilia in an attempt to defend the Boy Scouts' decision to keep gays out.

Seems to me that if bearing false witness is a "value" which Huckabee affirms, then he has bigger problems than gay folks.

And if Chick-Fil-A teams with him, then the restaurant deserves all of the bad press it receives.



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Mike Huckabee is not necessarily a good ally for Chick-Fil-A

Mike Huckabee
Chick-Fil-A has a new ally in the controversy regarding the gay community.

Former Arkansas governor and current radio show host Mike Huckabee is announcing a “Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day."

Huckabee is calling for folks to eat at Chick-Fil-A on August 1 to support the company from what he calls “vitriolic assaults":

I have been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick Fil-A company because the CEO [sic], Dan Cathy, made comments recently in which he affirmed his view that the Biblical view of marriage should be upheld. The Cathy family, let by Chick Fil-A founder Truett Cathy, are a wonderful Christian family who are committed to operating the company with Biblical principles and whose story is the true American success story… I ask you to join me in speaking out on Wednesday, August 1 “Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day.” No one is being asked to make signs, speeches, or openly demonstrate. The goal is simple: Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1.

As Huckabee rushes to the defense of Chick-Fil-A, he conveniently omits the reason as to why the gay community is angry at the company. He conveniently does not mention how Chick-Fil-A donated nearly $2 million to anti-gay hate groups and ex-gay groups in 2010 .

And he omits any specific mention of the viciously anti-gay comments of Chick-Fil-A's president, Dan Cathy, who claimed that gays are helping to invite "God's judgement" on the country.

Huckabee's failure to mention these things could be seen as merely an accidental slight on his part.
But not necessarily.

He committed the same willful distortion in 2010.