Mike Huckabee Stepped in a Load of Doo Doo

Let's go back to the November election 2008... Now, I'm not talking presidential or even Prop 8, but something on the Arkansas ballot called Act 1. When the results came in, the people of Arkansas voted to pass Act 1 forbidding anyone "cohabiting outside of a valid marriage" to adopt or foster children. And even though this included heterosexual singles, the initiative was clearly targeted to keep gay people from adopting. It's simple algebra folks: If gays can't legally marry, and only legally married folks can adopt, well then, it stands to reason that those dreaded homos are defeated again!!

As an adoptive parent, this pisses me off. There are an average of sixteen hundred children in the system in Arkansas, and yet in 2008 the Razorbacks felt like it was more important to stick it to the ho-man than advocate for their own children.

Well, some good news... The ACLU sued the state in December 2008 to overturn the ban, their arguement being that there are not enough Arkansonians who are either willing or able to take care of all these kids. And on Friday, Circuit Court Judge Chris Piazza overturned the law! The judge said, and listen up H8ers, "Due process and equal protection are not hollow words without substance. They are rights enumerated in our constitution that must not be construed in such a way as to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people."

On April 7th, before Act 1 was overturned, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee visited The College of New Jersey, and was questioned by Michael Tracey, editor of the college magazine The Perspective. Topics included Don't Ask, Don't Tell, gay marriage, and other LGBT nuggets. On a question about Act 1, Huckabee explained Arkansas's stance by explaining that "Children are not puppies. This is not a time to see if we can experiment and find out how does that work?"

Someone might want to explain to ex-Governor Huckabee that there have been way too many studies about gay adoption and gay parenting to still be deemed an experiment. And the results are that children from homohomes end up being just as accomplished or screwed up as those from heterohomes. Homosexual and heterosexual couples stay together or divorce with the same frequency. And children end up being gay or straight no matter the parents' orientation. So basically, being raised by Butch Betty and Lipstick Loni will not make little Mai Ling a muff diver.

As a matter of fact, the only difference found was that children raised by homosexuals tend to be more tolerant. And perhaps that's an experiment that Mr. Huckabee just can't stomach.

In that same interview, Huckabee espoused about gay marriage, "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 lets go ahead and accommodate those who want to 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."

I find it highly unchristian for this former Baptist minister to compare me or my husband or Ricky Martin to drug abusers, incest participants and polygamists.

Huckabee has received lots of heat for saying these things and to retaliate he issued the following on his website, "The young college student will hopefully find a career other than journalism. I ask that he release the unedited tape of our conversation."

Then Tracey fired back, "It is telling that nowhere in his statement did Huckabee suggest he was misquoted in the article, and rightfully so; we have the audio and transcripts to prove that everything reported is accurate."

This week, both Judge Chris Piazza and future publisher extraordinaire Michael Tracey are my personal heroes.

Hey, Mike Huckabee, the ball's in your court. But now that the ban on gay adoption has been overturned in your state, you might want to choose your words more carefully, because let me assure you, we are listening.