When various LGBT athletes have come out publicly, President Barack Obama has acknowledged them to thank them for their courage. Jason Collins and Michael Sam received phone calls soon after they publicly came out as gay. Robbie Rogers was thanked personally by the President at a reception for the Los Angeles Galaxy earlier this year.
This, according to Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, is a sign of America's "utter collapse." These men have done nothing to deserve the admiration of the President, according to Huckabee, because being gay is something to be decried. It is, after all, a sin. That is what he said at a recent speech in Iowa. From Right Wing Watch:
"The values that so many of us hold dear are values that are under assault today. I never believed that in such a short period of time, the culture in America would go into utter collapse. If you told me just a few years ago that one day the President of the United States would use his precious time in the Oval Office to call people up simply to congratulate them for being gay, I would say, 'No, surely he'll call a veteran and thank them for their service, for losing a limb or a leg.' But even when Chris Kyle was murdered, his widow didn't get a phone call, but a gay football player who came out did."
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This, of course, from a man – Huckabee – who has proudly and actively contributed to an environment in the United States where LGBT youth have a depressingly high suicide rate and struggle to find the strength simply to play sports.
We here at Outsports don’t take political positions on the site. However, when any politician brings the courageous LGBT men and women in sports into their crosshairs, you can bet we’ll have something to say about it. When Huckabee or anyone else degrades the thoughtful recognition directed to people like Sam, Collins and Rogers – or Brittney Griner, Megan Rapinoe or any of a host of high school, college and professional LGBT athletes – he needs to be called out for it.
Check out the video of Mike Huckabee decrying the embracing of that evil gay community below: