I realize many around here discount what goes on at "The View" but it's often interesting to see what happens when political figures go on this show, expecting to get a soft-ball interview, and unexpectedly speak candidly.
Yesterday Mike Huckabee went on "The View" and the discussion turned to Obama's election. After Huckabee recounted his memory of a segregated South and celebrated the fact that we as a country have come so far in terms of civil rights, Joy Behar asked Huckabee about his stance on gay rights. Watch what unfolded:
For those who can't watch, here's the relevant portion:
HUCKABEE: It’s a different set of rights. People who are homosexuals should have every right in terms of their civil rights, to be employed, to do anything they want. But that’s not really the issue. I know you talked about it and I think you got into it a little bit early on. But when we’re talking about a redefinition of an institution, that’s different than individual civil rights.
BEHAR: Well, segregation was an institution, too, in a way. It was right there on the books.
HUCKABEE: But here is the difference. Bull Connor was hosing people down in the streets of Alabama. John Lewis got his skull cracked on the Selma bridge.
In essence, Huckabee is saying that civil rights are only important if you're getting your skulls cracked open, that we have to wait to protect a minority from the beliefs of the majority only when it turns to violence. Interesting, coming from a Christian minister.
It's strange that Huckabee and other conservatives who are now making this argument are forgetting prominent cases like:
Matthew Shepard
Shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998, 21-year-old Shepard met McKinney and Henderson in a bar. McKinney and Henderson offered Shepard a ride in their car. Subsequently, Shepard was robbed, pistol whipped, tortured, tied to a fence in a remote, rural area, and left to die. McKinney and Henderson also found out his address and intended to rob his home. Still tied to the fence, Shepard was discovered eighteen hours later by a cyclist, who at first thought that Shepard was a scarecrow. At the time of discovery, Shepard was still alive, but in a coma.
Shepard suffered a fracture from the back of his head to the front of his right ear. He had severe brain stem damage, which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs. There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face and neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to operate. Shepard never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. As he lay in intensive care, candlelight vigils were held by the people of Laramie.
He was pronounced dead at 12:53 A.M. on October 12, 1998 at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins. Police arrested McKinney and Henderson shortly thereafter, finding the bloody gun as well as the victim's shoes and wallet in their truck.
The two men had attempted to get their girlfriends to provide alibis.
OR
Lawrence King
On the morning of Feb. 12, Lawrence was in the school’s computer lab with 24 other students, said Mr. Keith, the police spokesman. Brandon walked into the room with a gun and shot Lawrence in the head, the police said, then ran from the building. Police officers caught him a few blocks away.
These are just the more recent and famous cases of "skull cracking" of gay people. Of course there were the famous cases of Harvey Milk, the openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who was assassinated, and Brandon Teena, who was the subject of the movie Boys Don't Cry.
Conservatives and fundamentalists consciously ignore cases where there has been violence against gays and lesbians, but in the end it's beside the point whether violence is involved. Why do we have to wait for such a tipping point before the rights of a minority are no longer determined merely by the whims and sympathies of the majority? That goes against the very nature of our Constitution. But then again, I realize I'm preaching to the choir around here. But more of us have to confront this argument more forcefully. I give Joy Behar great credit for bringing up gay rights (she's a great fag hag). I just wish interviewers would bring up during these discussions that violence against gays and lesbians - both physically and psychologically - is quite pervasive. And that the Right Wing is only contributing further to it.