HRC Back Story

Former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee went on "The View" yesterday and, in discussing the horrors of segregation, implied that gays haven't really suffered enough to warrant calling their struggle a civil rights movement:

Today, Joe Solmonese issued this statement in response:

Unlike Governor Huckabee, we know that hate crimes tear into the fabric of our society and fragment communities because they target a group and not just the individual victim.  The purpose of our government, first and foremost, is to protect all of our citizens — whether they are black, Christian, gay or transgender.  From advocating that people with HIV/AIDS should be locked up to comparing gay sex to bestiality, Huckabee is merely a mouthpiece for homophobia.