Words: Huckabee opposes civil unions and gay adoption. He feels the “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” policy should remain in place. “In our lifetimes, we’ve seen our country go from Barney Fife to Barney Frank. … I have a problem with changing institutions that have served us.”

Actions: Huckabee signed legislation banning gay marriage in Arkansas (2006).

Updates: Gov. Huckabee has been taken to task here for comments he made in the early ’90s advocating quarantine for AIDS sufferers. By that time the pathology of AIDS infection was well understood and the “need” for a quarantine had uniformly been dismissed by medical professionals.

In a speech he gave just before the Michigan primary, Huckabee said that the Constitution should be amended to reflect God’s “standards”. These implicit amendments are largely understood to include a national ban on same-sex marriage contracts. As most critics of equal rights for gay people have opted for a State by State approach, Huckabee’s continuing advocacy of a Constitutional Amendment makes him one of the most aggressive of the candidates on this issue.

He has not yet said whether this proposed set of amendments would include other Biblical injunctions such as those condemning divorce or adultery.

More about: LGBT Rights, Mike Huckabee.