Republican presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee said Sunday that clerks opposed to marriage equality should
be excused from having to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian
couples.
During an appearance on ABC's This
Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked Huckabee to explain what
he meant by calling on people to “resist and reject” the Supreme
Court's decision striking down state bans on gay marriage.
“So, are you calling for civil
disobedience?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“I don't think a lot of pastors and
Christian schools are going to have a choice. They either are going
to follow God, their conscience, and what they truly believe is what
the Scripture teaches them, or they will follow civil law. They will
go the path of Dr. Martin Luther King, who in his brilliant essay,
the Letters [sic] From a Birmingham Jail, reminded us based on
what St. Augustine said, that an unjust law is no law at all.”
“What about county clerks? Will they
issue same-sex marriage licenses?”
“If they have a conscientious
objection, I think they should be excused,” Huckabee answered.
He also criticized President Barack
Obama's decision to light up the White House in rainbow colors to
celebrate the court's ruling. “If I become president … please
don't complain if I were to put a nativity scene out during Christmas
and say, you know, if it's my house, I get to do with it what I wish,
despite what other people around the country may feel about it.”