In Brief

Staff Reports

Mike Huckabee Cites Molestation As Justification For Boy Scouts Upholding Ban On Gays

Former Governor Mike Huckabee
Courtesy of NBC News Meet The Press

NEW YORK, NY -- Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee laid out in no uncertain terms yesterday during a call on radio show that he believes the policy of the Boy Scouts of America discriminating against gay scouts and leaders was “ absolutely the best policy ” for its organization.

Taking a call from a listener in Kansas City, Missouri who claimed to have been allegedly molested abused by his scout leader in the late 1950's and early 1960's, Huckabee was quick to point out that part of the definition of “homosexual” is molesting children:

CALLER: I believe homosexuals try to target groups like that, to get a leadership area in, and if there hadn’t have been a homosexual in my troop, I wouldn’t have been traumatized for about three years.

HUCKABEE: I think if anybody wants to argue about this case, they need to hear your story.

LGBTQ advocacy groups were quick to jump on Huckabee's statements calling them egregiously offensive and harmful. "Drawing a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia is the same weak argument John Briggs was making 40 years ago in an attempt to ban gay teachers in California. It’s unfounded slander against the entire gay community," said Zach Ford from Think Progress, "Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which individuals have a primary or exclusive sexual interest in children. It in no way defines or relates to an individual’s sexual orientation — it refers only to age and level of sexual development. That gay men are attracted to men makes them no more likely to abuse children than straight men because they are attracted to women. As psychologists have stated for years, “There is no inherent connection between an adult’s sexual orientation and her or his propensity for endangering others.”

Colorado Highway Patrol Ruled Homophobic Culture By Judge After Refusing To Rehire Gay Officer

DENVER, CO -- In a ruling issued Monday, State Personnel Board Judge Mary McClatchey,ordered the Colorado State Patrol to include sexual orientation among the topics covered in agency diversity-training programs.

McClatchey's decision came in a case involving former Patrol Captain Brett Williams who was denied re-employment after his superiors learned that he is gay.

McClatchey wrote:

"The anti-gay culture in the patrol is well documented in this case. [...] The patrol has never educated its members or leaders through training or otherwise of the prohibition on sexual orientation discrimination in its written policy or state statute; further, it has not enforced that policy."

The judge also ordered the agency to designate a senior official to become a point-of-contact for gay or lesbian troopers.

Colorado's Department of Public Safety Director James Davis, in a statement released to the media after the ruling, said that his department would appeal McClatchey's decision, adding, "The department will enhance its current diversity training activities, will document member participation in them through annual performance management planning and appraisals, and will identify high level points of contact in all divisions for members to address concerns of any discrimination or bias, including bias based upon sexual orientation."

Williams, who departed from the State Patrol in early 2010 to pursue a career as a helicopter pilot, had returned and asked for his job back. A polygraph test was required as part of Williams' reinstatement and according to a report in the Denver Post, a State Patrol sergeant asked Williams a question that forced Williams to reveal he is gay. This violated patrol rules prohibiting polygraph questions about sexual orientation.

The examiner said Williams failed the polygraph because he showed a "significant reaction" to a question about illegal sexual conduct. McClatchey concluded patrol leaders used that polygraph test as the reason for denying Williams' reinstatement, contrary to law enforcement hiring standards that prevent polygraphs from being the sole factor considered in an employment decision. McClatchey also found other instances in which the patrol had hired people after they failed polygraph tests. 

"The preponderance of evidence shows that the patrol failed genuinely to consider reinstating (Williams) at every stage in the decisionmaking process," McClatchey wrote. 

McClatchey rescinded the patrol's reinstatement decision but stopped short of ordering the patrol to give Williams a job. Instead, she found that the patrol would likely be a hostile work environment and awarded "front pay" — the difference between what Williams would have made in a State Patrol job for the rest of his career versus what he will likely make now. 

McClatchey notes in her ruling that Williams has been the subject of false rumors at the State Patrol that he is a child molester. ~ The Denver Post

That award could put the state on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in the case, though the full State Personnel Board will have to approve the awarding of front pay before an amount is set at a special hearing.

"I would not wish it on anybody," Williams said Wednesday. "But if in the end it helps other people in my situation and causes the policies and philosophies in the state to change, then it's a good thing."