His views on HIV and gay people are so dangerous, even the Log Cabin clubs is denouncing their fellow Republican.

The national gay group Log Cabin Republicans denounced Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee as an anti-gay extremist on Jan. 18. “Gov. Mike Huckabee is establishing an unfortunate pattern on the campaign trail - making statements about gays and lesbians that demonstrate he’s out of touch with the vast majority of Americans,” said LCR President Patrick Sammon.

“Voters should take a close look at the governor’s pattern of ill-informed and extreme statements,” Sammon said. “Gov. Huckabee should remember it’s 2008, not 1968, and he’s running for president, not preacher.”

In his latest anti-gay remarks, Huckabee told Beliefnet.com on Jan. 17: “I don’t think that’s a radical view to say we’re going to affirm marriage. I think the radical view is to say that we’re going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal. Again, once we change the definition, the door is open to change it again. I think the radical position is to make a change in what’s been historic.”

Sammon responded, “People of good conscience can disagree about marriage equality, but Americans deserve an honest discussion rather than false hysteria about bestiality, pedophilia and polygamy.”

Huckabee also recently said he favors writing God’s laws into the Constitution to save marriage from the gays.

“I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that’s what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards.”

Huckabee’s longstanding hostility to gay people came into national focus in December, when the Associated Press published excerpts from a 1992 interview in which he made these statements:

“I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”

“It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population.”

“In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified. An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research.”

Midler and Manilow were thrilled to sing in bathhouses
Bette Midler and Barry Manilow were “just thrilled” to have gigs performing at gay bathhouses in the 1970s, Midler said Jan. 10 in an interview with TheStripPodcast.com. “We were both so happy to have a gig that, you know, we didn’t care because it was, you know, the guy was really nice to us and he was paying us what was really good money in those days, which was like $300 a night. I mean, that was an extraordinary amount of money in those days and we were just, like, we didn’t care. We would have, you know, been at the zoo singing, we didn’t care. We were just thrilled.”

Midler said she was not taken aback by whatever else was going on at the baths. “I know people expect me to have been, you know, appalled and stunned and all that stuff. I mean, maybe they’re surprised that I was so blasĂ©,” she said. “I had seen plenty by that time, so, I have to say, it was not a big surprise.

“I had a great time. They were great to me and I had a chance to learn all these songs and play all these songs and move into the mainstream, and it was just like a dream come true.”

And furthermore....

Log Cabin Lashes Out At Bill Clinton

Log Cabin Republicans also went after former President Bill Clinton this month. On Jan. 18 they sharply criticized him for allegedly rewriting the history of his “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays in the military. “President Clinton should be embarrassed,” said Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon. “He needs to take responsibility for the legislation he signed, instead of trying to blame others.”

Campaigning for his wife Hillary on Jan. 18, Clinton said: “‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ as articulated, as I worked it out with Colin Powell, who was then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meant literally that - that people would be free to live their lives. As long as they didn’t go march in gay rights parades or go to gay bars in uniform - in uniform - and talk about it on duty, they would be all right. Now, as soon as he [Powell] left, the anti-gay forces then in the military started using it as an excuse to kick people out.”

But LCR’s Sammon isn’t having it. “President Clinton either didn’t understand the legislation he signed or he’s lying,” Sammon said. “From the very beginning of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ there was no doubt what the law meant: gay and lesbian Americans could only serve if they lied about their sexual orientation or kept it a secret.

“This is another example of the Clintonian excuses and rewriting history that we’ve come to expect from this president - a man who gladly took support and money from gays and lesbians and then delivered ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act.’”