Critical Refutation: Huckabee Compares Same-sex Marriage to Incest, Polygamy

Our blog and its contributors have argued for the legalization of gay marriage, among others, on the grounds of equal social rights for all. Recently however, in an interview with college journalists in New Jersey, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee utterly advocated against equal social rights for homosexuals by reportedly comparing the push for same-sex marriage to an effort to accommodate drug abuse, polygamy and incest, and dismissing adoption by gay couples by saying, "Children are not puppies." The Perspective, a student publication at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, N.J., published an article from the interview and in response to claims from the Huckabee camp that his words were distorted and sensationalized, Michael Tracey, the student who wrote the story on the interview, posted audio of portions of the interview online (see below).

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Huckabee's claims rely on faulty reasoning, unwarranted comparisons and reveal his negative view of homosexuals that underscore the values of the traditional family unit and what is in childrens' best interests that his argument is based on.

Huckabee displays his faulty reasoning and unwarranted comparisons when in discussing same-sex marriage in the interview he says, "You don't go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal. That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let's go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them." Huckabee's reasoning here is that supporting same-sex marriage is akin to supporting drug users, as they are both behaviors that go against the ideal. Not only does this show a belief inherent in Huckabee that homosexuality is against the ideal, but to compare a behavior that one is born with (homosexuality) to a behavior one chooses to engage in (drug use) just doesn't make any sense or hold any weight. Furthermore, Huckabee compares supporting same-sex marriage to supporting other behaviors like incest and polygamy. However, homosexuality is a widely accepted behavior in America whereas incest and polygamy, which are both illegal, are not, and even if Huckabee puts these behaviors in the same "against the ideal" category, most Americans wouldn't. Also, even the most conservative estimates suggest that 1 - 5% percent of America's population is homosexual, equating to 2.7 million to 13.5 million people, which is undoubtedly a greater number of people than the number that engage in fringe behaviors like incest and polygamy. Therefore it is just asinine and ridiculous to compare pushing for same-sex marriage to accomodating behaviors like drug use, incest and polygamy.

In the interview, Perspective reported that Huckabee said he backs the Arkansas law barring same-sex couples from adopting or becoming foster parents. "This is not about trying to create statements for people who want to change the basic fundamental definitions of family," Huckabee said. "And always we should act in the best interest of the children, not in the seeming interest of the adults." "Children are not puppies," he said. "This is not a time to see if we can experiment and find out, how does this work?". When asked if it was preferable for children to stay in foster care rather than be adopted by a same-sex couple, Huckabee said, "No, its preferable to have men and women who actually give consideration to their sexual activities... when people use another person as their sexual object of pleasure without any regards to the ultimate consequences that may result from it. That's not mature sexuality, that's immature, selfish lifestyle." In these statements, Huckabee shows that he believes allowing homosexuals to adopt foster children would be a risky experiment and foster children should always go to a man and a woman. Furthermore, he hints at stereotypes, such as homosexuals being sexually promiscuous and immature which reveal his underlying negative view of homosexuals. Huckabee uses faulty reasoning and unwarranted comparisons to make his point on same-sex marriage. He also espouses the values of the traditional family unit and childrens' best interests as a guise for the negative view of homosexuals that actually drives his sentiments. All of these factors combines make his argument against same-sex marriage hold little, if any, weight.
-Adam