Ahead of South Carolina's primaries
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee goes on the offensive
against gays, linking gay marriage to bestiality
In a telephone interview with
Beliefnet's Steven Waldman and Dan Gilgoff, and posted on the
Beliefnet website, Mike Huckabee once again asserted his opposition
to gay marriage and compared the idea to bestiality.
"Marriage has ... as long as
there's been human history, meant a man and a woman in a relationship
for life. Once we change that definition, then where does it go from
there?" he asked his interviewers.
"Well, I don't think that's a
radical view, to say we're going to affirm marriage. I think the
radical view is to say that we're going to change the definition of
marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three
women, a man and a child, a man and animal," he added.
The former Arkansas governor said he
would amend the Constitution to conform to the Bible on issues where
it is being "challenged": marriage and abortion. "I
support both the human rights amendment and a marriage amendment, and
the reason that I do is because I think we need to codify in our
Constitution that which has been acceptable and accepted view of what
life and what marriage means. Frankly, if it weren’t being
challenged, it wouldn’t be necessary. But it is being challenged.
Now you have states that are passing same-sex marriage laws or civil
union laws."
Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, is
running for the Republican presidential nomination. The former
Arkansas governor, 52, was born in Hope, Arkansas -- the birthplace
of former president Bill Clinton. He won the Iowa Republican
caucuses earlier this month and hopes to win in today's South
Carolina primaries by appealing to a large bloc of evangelicals.