Huckabee's Bigotry Not Fully Repudiated

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a Republican who sought his party’s nomination for President in 2008, has reminded the world that he’s against marriage equality.

He continues to oppose any government recognition of same-sex relationships. Even civil unions are “not necessary,” Huckabee said.

They may not be necessary for him, but they are necessary as temporary assistance as we move towards marriage equality.

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 to 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 drug use comment is strange. But he does a standard anti-equality move in mentioning polygamy and consanguineous marriages along with (two-person) same-sex marriages.

He does almost get it right when he asks…

"Why do you get to choose that two men are OK but one man and three women aren't OK?" he asked.

They are ALL OK. None of them are anyone else's business.

Unfortunately, rather than standing up and completely repudiating this bigotry, as happens all too often, too many people refuse to support the right to love for all, letting their polyamorous and consanguineous neighbors be thrown under the bus. Even worse is when they turn on their neighbors and join in the bashing of those neighbors. This is like “black vs. brown”- when African Americans only care about rights for African Americans, and may even attack Latinos, or when Latinos behave the same way towards African Americans. Equality must be for all, otherwise it isn’t equality.

Here is an example. Someone identified as “Alex511” wrote after the Washington Post covered the story…

Huckabee is a nutball if he thinks that my marriage to my lovely WIFE in June 2008 (we're a gay Christian couple) is against "the idea of morality". He needs to yank the huge log out of his own tiny little eyeball before trying to remove a "speck" that he claims is in someone else's eye.

He also needs to remember that incest and polygamy are illegal, whereas being glbt is NOT.

But they aren't illegal everywhere, and they shouldn’t be illegal anywhere. GLBT used to be illegal, too, and polygamy and consanguineous marriages used to be accepted and respected in the law. They should be again. Everyone should have the right to marry the person or persons of their choosing.

We expect bigotry-laden double standards from the likes of Huckabee, even as we demand that such people leave their ignorance behind. What hurts is the lack of support from those who claim to support marriage equality.

The next time someone denigrates marriage or any kind of relationships between consenting adults - gay, lesbian, polyamorous, or consanguineous – we should all immediately and loudly respond with “Everyone should have the right to marry."