African-Americans should be insulted by hearing same-sex marriage being called a civil right, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Wednesday.
Huckabee, who served as Arkansas governor from 1996-2007, made the comment during a radio interview with a station in Baton Rouge, La.
"First of all, what an insult to African Americans, who were hosed in the street, who were beaten, who were truly discriminated against with separate restrooms, separate drinking fountains, separate entrances," Huckabee said on WJBO.
"That was true discrimination and it was horrible. It's hard to say that the redefinition of marriage is on the same basis as was racial discrimination throughout our history."
Huckabee's comments about same-sex marriage come at the beginning of the interview.
Story continues below audio.
Huckabee also said the Supreme Court has opened the door for a variety of marriages with its ruling.
"If you live by the sword you die by the sword, and the same court that said, 'Sure, marriage can be between two men, two women,' ultimately it will mean marriage can be between any group of people who want to have a marriage because you can't deny it once you've opened the door."
The Supreme Court ruled last week that same-sex marriage is a Constitutional right, which paves the way for all states to make the practice legal.
Critics, like Huckabee, have blasted the ruling.
Texas Sen.
Ted Cruz, another Republican candidate for president, vented his frustration with that ruling and the ruling that upheld the subsidies portion of the Affordable Care Act. Fellow Republican and presidential candidate
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said the government should not define — or redefine — the definition of marriage.
"While I disagree with Supreme Court's redefinition of marriage, I believe that all Americans have the right to contract," Paul said. "The Constitution is silent on the question of marriage because marriage has always been a local issue. Our founding fathers went to the local courthouse to be married, not to Washington, D.C."
Richard Land, the president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary,
told Newsmax TV this week that tax-exempt churches and Christian colleges could be affected by the high court's ruling.
"They will threaten the tax-exempt status of traditional churches that refuse to compromise their beliefs on same-sex marriage, they'll come after the accreditation of Christian colleges that do not allow same-sex couples to live together and to engage in homosexual activities, they will come after the student loans," Land said.
"With one fell swoop of the pen, the president of the United States by an executive order could say, 'we will not allow any federally guaranteed student loans to be used in any college that in any way, shape, or form discriminates against homosexuals.' That would put a lot of Christian colleges out of business almost immediately."
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