Huckabee: Boy Scouts Did The Right Thing Because Gays Abuse Children
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
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
|
Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
