Mike Huckabee on his radio show last week told his audience and one caller in particular that the Boy Scouts‘ decision to continue its ban on homosexuals was the right because it protects boy scouts from sexual abuse. The assumption Huckabee is clearly making is all gay people are pedophiles, or a large percentage of gay people are pedophiles.
A caller into Huckabee’s radio show says he was molested by his scout leader for three years, adding, “if there hadn’t have been a homosexual in my troop, I wouldn’t have been traumatized for about three years.” Of course, Huckabee ignored the fact hat the man’s abuser was actually a pedophile, not a homosexual, based on his actions. Huckabee also ignores mountains of evidence that shows that pedophilia and homosexuality are different things, and gay people are no more likely to be child molesters than straight people.
Huckabee then says that the scout leader of his troop when he was a boy “had done the same thing to some of the kids in the scout troop.” Therefore, Huckabee believes, all gays are pedophiles.
The ignorance and homophobia of a learned and accomplish man like Huckabee is incomprehensible. Mike Huckabee was thew Governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007, he is an ordained Southern Baptist minister, he’s written several books, run for president, hosts radio and TV talk shows, and graduated magna cum laude in two and a half years. The man is not stupid.
Yet, here he is, guided by his belief in God, ready to pronounce that gays are pedophiles, and supporting Chick-Fil-A by starting a nationwide event designed to get people to eat there.
In “Keeping Gays Out Of Boy Scouts Will Protect Boys From Abuse,” Zack Ford at Think Progress writes:
Mike Huckabee spelled out in no uncertain terms that he believes the policy is “right†because it protects boys from abuse. He welcomed a call from a listener who had been abused by his scout leader, and Huckabee agreed that part of the definition of “homosexual†is molesting children:
CALLER: I believe homosexuals try to target groups like that, to get a leadership area in, and if there hadn’t have been a homosexual in my troop, I wouldn’t have been traumatized for about three years. […]
HUCKABEE: I think if anybody wants to argue about this case, they need to hear your story. That’s very powerful. I thank you for having the candor to share it with us, and again, you make us all understand why the Boy Scouts made a decision that I at least think was the right one.
Comments like Huckabee’s (and the Liberty Counsel’s) are egregiously offensive and harmful. Drawing a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia is the same weak argument John Briggs was making 40 years ago in an attempt to ban gay teachers in California. It’s unfounded slander against the entire gay community.
Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which individuals have a primary or exclusive sexual interest in children. It in no way defines or relates to an individual’s sexual orientation — it refers only to age and level of sexual development. That gay men are attracted to men makes them no more likely to abuse children than straight men because they are attracted to women. As psychologists have stated for years, “There is no inherent connection between an adult’s sexual orientation and her or his propensity for endangering others.â€
Alvin McEwen at Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters adds:
This isn’t accidental on Huckabee’s part. He has in the past:
- aligned himself with Southern Poverty Law Center – identified hate group Mass Resistance whose leader Brian Camenker once made a claim in 2006 that “gays were trying to get legislation passed to allow sex with animals†in Massachusetts,
- attacked lgbt families by comparing them to people raising puppies,
- bent over backwards to assure Ann Coulter that he wasn’t “pro-gay†and “pro-sodomy.â€
Just count this as another notch on his belt of homophobic ignorance.
It’s also important to note the the Boy Scouts of America released no notes or data, or even the names of the people on its secret committee that decided banning gay people from Scouting was in the best interests of Scouting. And it’s important to note that the ban is on all gay people, so if a boy scout’s mom is a lesbian and she wants to be a cub scout den mother, forget it. If a twelve-year old boy is openly gay, he gets kicked out or banned from joining. If a nine-year old is transgender — forget it.
Homophobes say its not fair that they are forced to explain same-sex marriage to their children whom they’ve taught to hate gay people. Perhaps it’s not fair to have to explain to a boy that because he’s gay he’s not allowed to be a boy scout?
http://mediamatters.org/embed/187214