Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee controversially remarked over the weekend that being gay is similar to making lifestyle choices such as drinking alcohol or swearing, immediately drawing some scorn on Twitter.
The potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate believes that he has been able to make homosexual friends despite his religious convictions because homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, Yahoo News reported.
"People can be my friends who have lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyle," Huckabee said in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "I don't shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view. I don't drink alcohol, but gosh - a lot of my friends, maybe most of them, do. You know, I don't use profanity, but believe me, I've got a lot of friends who do."
"I accept a lot of people as friends maybe whose lifestyle I don't necessarily adhere to, agree with or practice. Doesn't mean that I can't have a good relationship with anyone or lead them or govern them," Huckabee said.
However, forcing people of faith to accept gay marriage as policy or Christians to accept same-sex marriages remains a non-negotiable issue for the 59-year-old - whether he runs for president or not, according to the Associated Press.
Asking a Christian to accept same-sex marriage is "like asking someone who's Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli," Huckabee, who has made cultural issues the cornerstone of his likely White House bid, said.
"We don't want to do that - I mean, we're not going to do that," he said. "Or like asking a Muslim to serve up something that is offensive to him, or to have dogs in his backyard. We're so sensitive to make sure we don't offend certain religions, but then we act like Christians can't have the convictions that they've had for 2,000 years."
"This is not just a political issue," Huckabee, who remains steadfastly opposed to rights for gays and lesbians, said. "It is a biblical issue. And as a biblical issue - unless I get a new version of the scriptures, it's really not my place to say, 'OK, I'm just going to evolve.'"
"I'd like to think that there's room in America for people who have different points of view without screaming and shouting and wanting to shut their businesses down. What worries me in this new environment we're in, it's not just that someone might disagree. They don't want to argue with me, even take a different point of view. They want to close someone's business down."
Meanwhile, a majority of Americans believe that same-sex couples should have marriage rights like everyone else while 42 percent said they should not, according to a May 2014 Gallup poll.
