‘Respect Not Mock’: GOP’s George Pataki Chastises Mike Huckabee For His Anti-Trans Comments

Republican presidential candidate George Pataki offered a more American response to transgender people than the one Mike Huckabee recently shared at a religious convention.

One of this afternoon’s top stories is a video that surfaced today of 2016 GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, mocking transgender teenagers and attacking nondiscrimination ordinances that allow transgender people to use restrooms for the gender they identify as. 

WATCH: Huckabee: I Wish I Had Found My Transgender Side In High School So I Could Shower With Girls

Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas, made his remarks during a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention earlier this year.

“I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE,” Huckabee quipped. “I’m pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘Coach, I think I’d rather shower with the girls today,'” Huckabee mocked.

The comments are especially brutal in light of yesterday’s news showing Caitlyn Jenner appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer this evening asked GOP presidential candidate George Pataki to respond to Huckabee’s remarks.

WATCH: ‘What The Hell Is Going On!?’: Fox News Reports Caitlyn Jenner Story As The ‘Final Days’ (Video)

Pataki, a former governor of New York, initially attempted to excuse Huckabee’s ugly remarks as “meant in humor,” even claiming, “obiviously” Huckabee “didn’t mean it seriously,” but then offered a far more intelligent response.

“The more important point is we should give people their dignity,” Pataki told Blitzer. “Let them make their own decisions.”

Unfortunately, he also seemed to suggest being transgender is a “decision,” and one “I don’t agree with.”

“But in a government, where it’s supposed to be of the people,” Pataki urged, “if someone chooses a path that’s different from mine, we should respect that as opposed to mocking it or in any way trying to prevent that.”

Could Pataki be testing the waters for a position change on LGBT civil rights? He does not support same-sex marriage, although he does support hate crimes legislation.

UPDATE –
Pataki just posted this tweet: 

 

 

Related:

Here Are GOP Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee’s 10 Worst Anti-Gay Comments

Mike Huckabee Tells Christian Hispanics ‘I Don’t Speak Spanish But I Speak Jesus’

Gay Activists ‘Won’t Stop Until There Are No More Churches’: Mike Huckabee Goes On Attack

 

Image: Screenshot via CNN