Mike Huckabee has never been and will never be a Friend To The Gays. For instance, he argued last year that we should not be allowed to adopt children because we might think of them as puppies and forget to walk them, or something. Most recently – with the specter of the 2012 presidential election looming – Mike Huckabee has taken up aggressively proselytizing an anti-gay gospel to his constituents.
While speaking at the Rediscover God In America Conference (which may recall for some people the America Return To God Prayer Movement, which is led by none other than William Tam of Prop 8 Trial fame), Mike Huckabee called upon his listeners to become “spiritual warriors” who will fight against social issues like marriage equality for queers at all costs. He specifically mentions that you should be willing, as a straight person, to risk your job security to somehow battle the progress of equality. This is interesting in that it pointedly addresses those strides queer activists have made in getting disciplinary measures in the workplace to respond to discrimination; Huckabee is indicating that he and the ideology he represents see these as a kind of conspired hindrance to the real work that either God or the GOP or both (I mean really, what’s the difference?) have called them to. Or I could just let him explain it.
Of course, the “Rediscover God In America” Conference is probably a pretty self-selected group of people; it’s sponsored by the American Family Association, and its website claims that “We are called to be thermostats that set the moral temperature of our country and not thermometers that only measure the moral temperature.” (???) Huckabee is a politician and not stupid, so he’s going to tailor a reactionary message to a reactionary group of people. But his decision to attend is telling, and his speech there has been widely reposted and discussed. And once you’ve digested that situation, think about this: Mike Huckabee is currently the top GOP candidate for 2012.
That’s not good news, but not really shocking either. It’s a confirmation of what we’ve seen anecdotally for a while; that in response to a dire economic situation and a more progress on gay and social issues than was predicted (in the space of just a few months, DADT was repealed, DOMA was declared unconstitutional, binational gay couples are having their deportations put on hold, and public opinion is developing more strongly in favor of gay marriage than ever before, with even people like Cindy McCain and Barbara Bush supporting it), conservatives are reacting by retreating into more extreme and less rational political views. The Tea Party’s bizarre rise to power is maybe the most obvious example, but the Republican-majority House’s knee-jerk attacks on anything even vaguely ‘liberal’ in sensibility (NPR, Planned Parenthood, giving up on DOMA and therefore saving the country millions of dollars) is maybe a more dangerous one. Even if Mike Huckabee’s “spiritual warriors” stay mostly in the conference arena and don’t actually try to battle social progress in the workplace, they’re the face of the current political climate, and that should be taken seriously.
Sometimes I forget how crazy America still is when it comes to religion in politics.
One of the few good things I can say about the UK is that at least we laugh at people like Mike Huckabee.
i don’t think we’re any different. we’re just a smaller country, which makes us feel like we have less insane people.
i mean, someone thought it was a good idea to let *anne widicombe* be a member of parliament not that long ago – and yes, she’s laughing stock, but to most sane americans so is sarah palin.
also, two words: david. cameron.
just copypasting from wikipedia because i’m lazy, but here’s our “dear leader’s” current gay rights record:
During the Labour government’s repeal of the Section 28 legislation in 2000, which banned local authorities from promoting the acceptability of homosexuality, Cameron accused Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair of being against family values and of pursuing the “promotion of homosexuality in schools”.[52] In 2003, once Cameron had been elected as Conservative MP for Witney, he continued to support Section 28 and voted against its full repeal via a Conservative amendment which would have maintained Section 28 in schools.[53]
In 2002, Cameron voted in favour of a bill that would allow unmarried heterosexual couples to adopt children, but which would specifically ban gay couples from adopting.[54]
In addition, in 2008, he opposed giving lesbians the right to in vitro fertilisation treatment.[55]
More recently, Cameron has claimed to have changed his position on gay rights. Although he supported it to the end, he has claimed that he is glad Section 28 is gone (it was repealed by the Labour Government in 2003).[56] Cameron voted in favour of civil partnerships for gay men and lesbians in 2004.
In March 2010, Cameron was interviewed by Gay Times, and was filmed struggling to explain his party’s voting record on the issue of gay rights, at one point asking for the interview to be stopped while he gathered his thoughts.[57]
oh good lord have mercy…
What I Just Learned From Mike Huckabee:
1. God GAVE BIRTH to America.
2. America “isn’t finished” until God decides to abort or “pull the plug” on us. He might just do that soon. We might (or Conservative Christian Republicans might) be the LAST GENERATION of Americans.
3. Gay rights activists have lost their souls, and would like to “enslave” the GOP.
His offensive rhetoric, not mine. Beyond the fact that I don’t agree with his politics, I don’t think I could elect someone with such a bleak view of our future and polarizing view of the present.
^ Scary.
very…makes me want to move out of the States and as far as possible.
The gays are terrified of Christian bigots? This is an absurd statement. I hate them, but definitely not afraid of them. Their entire religion is exists only to the degree of public relations given to them. I don’t know where the OP lives, but in my world, the professional, anti-gay Christians are like human stones about to be dropped into a bottomless lake.
holy shit this is terrifying. I almost started crying, and then for some reason I decided to watch a bunch of other depressing videos uploaded by the same youtube account. bad idea, don’t do it.
I know, I just clicked over to a video called “Barber: Gay Kids Commit Suicide Because They Know Its Unnatural and Immoral”
like is this real life? zomg
i’m making the saddest face.
I agree. This makes me feel the way I did the day after prop 8 passed (I live in California). Waking up to the real world where people hate me for no reason.
I’m coming out to my parents today and just the other day my Mom was saying how much she likes Mike Huckabee. This might not go well for me. *sigh* :-/
I hope it went great!! Do remember–it gets better no matter how it panned out :)
@Joleen: good luck! A lot of people who like Mike Huckabee may not even be aware of his opinions on LGBT issues. Many straight people do not consider these issues as near and dear to them, and so don’t know a candidate’s stance.
My parents almost always prefer anti-gay candidates because they are economically conservative. However, this doesn’t meant that they condemn me. They’re seldom aware of voting records on gay issues, until I tell them.
A lot of people seem to fall for his aw shucks demeanor and completely miss out on how extreme his views are
To be honest, he strikes me as a genuinely nice person who ACTUALLY BELIEVES WE’RE SATAN LOVING BABY KILLERS. Which is… I mean… what.
I’m glad you were able to word it! I watched another speech and somehow I had to think of Kevin Spacey. Not Kevin Spacey as in nice, but as in “this is a movie, this is not real, he’s funny and… wait, this IS real life”.
I get the strangest feeling when watching these videos. and yes, I get scared too.
I hate this guy. I had a roommate once who met him & kept his autographed book on her nightstand. It made me rage.
Democrats better show up to vote this coming election!
If I vote from goddamn Australia, you can vote too! ;)
I literally watch this and just laugh, may God really forgive his ignorance and stupidity.
on a side note: His words and notion of raising a “spiritual warriors” army is quite hilarious and will most likely be made up of the older generation, so I am sure we can take on them or wait until they all kick the bucket.
More like Mike Fuckabees.
(She said Fuckabees)
That is what I think of every time I see Mike Huckabee, no joke.
i do not heart huckabee
I do not hart huckabee either
I just want to go curl up with a blanket over my head after watching that! Will someone let me know when/if it is ever safe to come out again???
That list of top GOP candidates for 2012 is like a list of all the politicians that make me afraid to keep living in this country…
sarah palin is number three ::shudders::
This was my thought, too. They all scare me.
Don’t worry, the Presidency is totally meaningless. The czars of offshore banks and megaconglomerate corporations that own 90% of the world’s resources are who’s in charge. The President is a public relations prop. He reads a teleprompter.
truth
Like in the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Does that mean we’re run by a man who lives in a shed with his cat?
(please oh please let someone else be nerdy enough to get that)
I would take that guy over Mike Huckabee, anyday. Though I think maybe he is John Stewart, in this scenario? He too is unaware that he controls the entire universe.
Beeblebrox 2012!
Jeez, I would take Zaphod Beeblebrox as President over Huckabee, Palin, Romney, or any of these extremist Tea Party fuckers ANY DAMN DAY. Even if his remaining brain is mostly run by lemons.
The “spiritual warriors” thing is disturbing to me. Republicans like to use certain words to incite violence and all these warrior/soldier type metaphors do just that. They want these “good Christian warriors” to rise up and fight back. This is the same bullshit they pull all the time with Obama, Mexicans, and Muslims only instead of blatantly being racist this is time they are being unapologetically homophobic and practically encouraging violence and suicide amongst gays.
You guys you guys move to France. Life is fucking awesome here.
We have macaroons too.
Is there much work for professionals who don’t speak French in France?
I tried to google to see if there was much work for unprofessionals who don’t speak French in France, but I failed. :(
This is basically my mother’s plan! My plan is to move to Germany, since I speak German. But we’d be close enough to visit a lot. I need to get my health stabilized a bit more and then I’m getting certified in teaching English as a foreign language and then I’m out of here! Fuck this, I’ve had enough of this bullshit.
Ben, je veux bien y aller, mais ça coute cher, non? C’est pas trop difficile d’obtenir un visa et trouver du boulot?
macaroons….yum…..
“We are called to be thermostats that set the moral temperature of our country and not thermometers that only measure the moral temperature.”
cool story, bro.
Haha
I don’t really even have words for this, there are no words.
“fucking loser” springs to mind
“omggetthefuckoutofmyfuckingfaceyoumotherfuckingfuckityfuck” does also.
That’s only one word…and difficult to pronounce.
I thought that flowed off the tongue quite nicely, has a ring to it
I’d love to be able to laugh and ignore him, but these people represent a huge voting bloc that’s a serious threat to our legal rights. Not only that, but many of them are parents who have the ability to abuse their LGBT children, who often end up on the street.
Finally, while “spiritual warriors” mostly refers to fighting an imaginary conspiracy of demons that rules the entire world, there definitely has been more and more willingness to consider killing “human agents of Satan” rather than simply trying exorcisms. (And yes, I’m serious. They really believe this stuff in many evangelical churches, particularly charismatic churches. Look around online and you can find them claiming, many times, that demon-possessed assassins have been sent after some of the major evangelical leaders.) Huckabee seems to be from a slightly more mainstream faction of evangelicism, but he’s willing to use the same imagery and try to rile up these fanatics in order to get votes. He probably doesn’t care if they end up beating the demons out of some gay kids in the process, or assassinating some politician or another because the politician reminds them of a character from the Left Behind novels.
Some of these people are truly dangerous individuals. Until lately, the Republican Party was careful not to actually appeal directly to them, or use their language, instead prefering to go with slightly more mainstream stuff. (Jerry Falwell, rather than John Hagee, basically.) But lately, there’s been a lot more apocalyptic language and calls to increased militancy, and that could lead to dead LGBT people.
Mike “Mau-Mau” Huckabee is clearly a demogogue. He is
a male version of Anita Bryant. We have see this kind
of hysteria before.
I’m scared! D: What if in 2012 they elect this guy? I can’t believe he’s at the top of the candidacy prospects for the Republicans’ leadership, it means he actually represents how A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK. I was taught institutionalizing values such as tolerance and acceptance of others would be a broad phenomenon, has it been lost on so many???
Pingback: Mike Huckabee for President- News Watch » Blog Archive » Autostraddle — Mike Huckabee Is A Terrifying Possible Future For …