Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) said on CNN on Friday that “religious freedom” bills in states such as Indiana and Arkansas owe much of the backlash from major American companies to “militant” gays protesting the legislation.
Introducing a few new terms into the debate such as “artistic freedom” and “discretion” (rather than discrimination), Huckabee insisted that small businesses had the right to abide by religious conscience and deny gay couples service.
“There’s been more pressure this week to put sanctions on Indiana than Iran,” Huckabee told host Michael Smerconish. “The reason that those corporations put the pressure on Indiana and Arkansas was because the militant gay community put the pressure on them,” he said.
Huckabee reminded viewers that, while he loved Wal-Mart, the company demonstrated rank hypocrisy for doing business with countries such as Saudi Arabia or China, where executives would likely disagree with their partners’ human rights.
