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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee stood by remarks he made in 1992 that, ‘If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.’ (Photo by The Greenville News/Ken Osburn/AP)
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said C. Dixon Osburn, the organization’s executive president.
Presidential candidates, such as former Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, also criticized Pace.
“I don’t share that view, and I would go further than that,” Edwards said. “I think that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is not working. And as president of the United States, I would change that policy.”
A poll last year by the Pew Research Center found 60 percent of Americans think gays should be allowed to serve openly.
Many gay Republicans took their party’s presidential candidates to task this year for their approaches to gay issues.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee drew some of the harshest reactions after comments he made 15 years ago about AIDS returned to the spotlight.
“If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague,” he wrote in response to an Associate Press questionnaire.
“It is difficult to understand the public policy toward AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.”
When he did not immediately repudiate his comments, Huckabee drew condemnation this month from Log Cabin Republicans and others. But he was not the only GOP candidate to be criticized on gay issues.
Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee angered many gay voters in September when he called for a constitutional amendment to “stop gay marriages.”
And former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani indicated in November that he might support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
Rep. Duncan Hunter of California also took heat in November after he said he supported “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in part because “most kids” who serve in the armed forces “have conservative values,” and telling them to fight alongside gay people would be “a disservice to them.”
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