Huckabee: Gays Haven't Crossed Civil Rights Violence Threshold

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was on The View Tuesday talking about same-sex marriage and declaring that gay rights are not civil rights because gays have not had violence inflicted upon them like Blacks have.

HuckabeeSaid: "People who are homosexuals should have every right in terms of their civil rights, to be employed, to do anything they want. But that's not really the issue. I know you talked about it and I think you got into it a little bit early on. But when we're talking about a redefinition of an institution, that's different than individual civil rights. We're never going to convince each other...But here is the difference. Bull Connor was hosing people down in the streets of Alabama. John Lewis got his skull cracked on the Selma bridge."

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[Topfeeder]

Really, look at this man. Don't you want his like telling you how the world should go 'round.

http://wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/huckxmas1.jpg

[RevSpaminator]

Not to say gays haven't suffered, but since when has suffering been a requirement to qualify for civil rights? ALL ARE EQUAL means ALL ARE EQUAL. Anything else is just rhetorical B.S. used to defend one's own prejudices.

[priusdriver]

agreed.

[MizzJada]

"hmmm, seems like we're arguing with a child with a child's understanding of history and logic, it may not be worth the effort."

You have some nerve questioning my intelligence about the history of my people!! Are you nuts???! You are saying blacks were not treated violently until they stood up for Civil rights?? What about the beatings on the boatride over here?? What about being whipped by the master?? Have you never seen the pictures of the backs of my ancestors where the master beat them so badly he deformed the skin growing on their backs??

You are making me GLAD that you were voted own.. Now I started this merely trying to kick some advice about where you are going wrong with the black community!! You have now successfully made me HAPPY gays don't have the right to marry in California!! See what I mean?? See how you gays turn people off with your arrogant ignorance?!? And if you made me feel this way you are going to make many many others..

And you know what?? I STILL have the right to marry - so now what?!?!?

[Scandalouscandice5]

Keep the conversation relevant to the posts they were started at. All this carry over is sad attention getting.

[politicalmama]

why is everyone talking as though the black experience and the gay experience are always separate, as if all gays are white and all blacks are straight..­.?

what about:
Audre Lorde
Marlon Riggs
Langston Hughes
James Baldwin
Jewelle Gomez

okay, yes, the kind of derogatory treatment because of racism is different from that coming out of homophobia. the demands of the movements are different, but interrelated. still, i think the repetition of 'the civil rights movement' and 'the gay rights movement' makes them seem way too separate, and i think this lack of attention to the folks who are black&gay/lesbian makes them invisible, when many of them have been powerful voices for justice on many fronts.

[luvobama]

you're not black

you're not a female

you're not straight.

[postman606]

Please stop the comparison of the Black experience, to the gay experience. Everyone has got it, the Black EXPERIENCE, was worse. What the dialogue is about is denying people their unalienable rights, remember, life, liberty, and the pursuit of HAPPINESS.­...like marriage. Gays are simply using the methodology of Civil Rights Movement, just as women, Hispanics, and others have done.

[zenlikejen]

Yes, I DO question your knowledge of black history - in fact, I question the fact that you are even BLACK.

Actually, at this point, you are losing on the "human" argument as well - get bent you worthless tr0ll...

[slaxx]

i'm so tired of people constantly comparing gay civil rights with the black civil rights movement, especially as a way to discredit it. yes, we all know they are two different things, we all know that what blacks went through was extreme, but i think that people make a mistake when we try comparing the two in terms of who had/has it worse; that's not the point. civil rights are civil rights, beit THE civil rights movement, the movement for women's rights, etc. they are all common in that they were all civil rights movements; all groups were/are being oppressed or treated unfairly somehow.

the right-wing loves stirring up division among us, don't they? does huckabee know the definition of "civil rights"? it seems that his deifinition of civil rights is how much violence is inflicted on the party seeking equal rights...a­nd gays and transgendered people do not have any federal employment protections because the right-wingers won't let the bill pass.

[priusdriver]

well said.

[politicalmama]

exactly, right on, slaxx.

[Azieran]

If only we were, in Mike Huckabee's eyes, lucky enough to have more violence perpetrated against us we would deserve equal rights...

I am gay and agnostic. Do I believe that churches should have to perform gay marriages? No, because that would go against the separation of church and state. Would I want to be married in a church? No. Do I think that churches should mandate who deserves what rights? Hell no! Why? Because it goes against the separation of church and state. The vocal "take away their rights" Evangelicals like to forget that separation works both ways. Huckabee likes to pretend he's Mr. Rogers but every once in a while, usually when he's trying to support his bigoted attitudes, the shallow veneer cracks and you get to see what really lies underneath (i.e. “If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague”).

[Joshua39]

Why is the media still covering this religious blowhard? Why would ABC discuss civil rights with an evil nuthead from a Southern Bible Belt state? What laws apply to inciting violence against GLBT individuals? Perhaps it is time for a gag order to be placed on this idiot before more harm is done.

[slaxx]

they do it to make stir up emotions. that's all the news is anymore - try to make any story as inflammatory as possible to get people riled. they don't want us to get bored and switch to something else.

[JeanV]

Mr. Huckabee--say there is no violence against gays to Mathew Shepards family

[dajuice7]

Is he serious? Thank God this man no longer holds office because his long history of dangerous and ill-informed comments is incredibly reminiscent of W.

[Artboyz]

Following is a letter I sent to Mike Huckabee's website (PART TWO):

Continued from previous post...

At age 40 I was dragged out of the closet by a twenty something guy who had not spent a day of his life there. The first time he kissed me I started to cry (as I'm doing right now). I couldn't stop. When he asked me what was wrong I just said I've been waiting for that kiss my whole life.

Different groups have different struggles. The constitution does not allow for choosing who gets to be more equal. I know you are a good person. I hope good enough to rise above the dogma of your faith to have real compassion for the millions of Americans who are being denied equality under the law.

[Mangler]

Oh Huck. You're all for government not interfering in people's lives except when it comes to gays and a woman's uterus.

And civil rights aren't measured by the amount of violence one must endure. In fact, no one should have to experience any violence to have their rights realized.

And this guy wanted to be president. Dangerous, parochial, homophobe.

[jdw1981]

Too bad Huckabee wasn't around in the time when lions were hungry and Evangelicals were TASTY.

[SatinPanties]

LMAO!!!

[progressivepam]

I think all who have been victims of gay bashing should show up at his door. As other posters have mentioned, that should include people with AIDS, and families of people of died of AIDS because in the beginning of the epidemic the prevailing policy was they deserve it. Policy is violence too.

[slaxx]

"Policy is violence too."

good post.

[Hawka]

Well said.

[Nikola Tesla]

Picketing funerals with signs that say "GOD HATES F*GS!" is an assault on the grieving family.

[HarlanE]

Matthew Shepard.

[11907281]

Jesus's loving servants, marginalizing minorities in the name of God. I guess we're in the Revelations part of the book, with all these false prophets and all.

[ctekin]

Gays have not endured violence? I have to give it to you Mike, you are consistent. Consistently wrong.

I thought civil rights were unalienable. I did not realize you had to be a victim of violence to have them. I guess you learn something new every day.