GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee launched a Twitter tirade against California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom over the weekend for supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry.
Huckabee accused Newsom of breaking the law by issuing marriage licenses to gay couples when he was mayor of San Francisco, comparing his behavior to the refusal of Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis to marry same-sex couples. Newsom “broke CA law,” Huckabee tweeted, yet encountered little of the outrage now being launched at Davis.
“You are dead wrong on the Kim Davis issue,” Newsom fired back.
.@GavinNewsom “The California Family Code states that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.” – SF Chronicle, 2/15/04 (2/3)
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) September 7, 2015
. @GovMikeHuckabee you are dead wrong on the Kim Davis issue — we issued marriage licenses because we believed the law at that time
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 7, 2015
violated equal protection clause of constitution @GovMikeHuckabee. Once the CA Supreme Court (they interpret the constitution)
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— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 7, 2015
Once the court ordered me to stop, I did. I was never in contempt of court — unlike Kim Davis. Get your facts right @GovMikeHuckabee
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 7, 2015
Newsom issued some 4,000 licenses to same-sex couples as mayor, according to Mother Jones. Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that allowed outlawed gay marriage in California, was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court in 2010.
Huckabee contended that Davis was being treated more harshly than Newsom ever was. In a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Huckabee told host George Stephanopoulos that Newsom “ignored the law when it was the law to have traditional marriage.”
“Did he ever get put in jail?” Huckabee asked. “He most certainly did not.”
Huckabee, who has adamantly supported the jailed Kentucky clerk, will host a rally in Davis’ honor on Tuesday in front of the jail where she’s being held.
