Huckabee: Homosexual behavior 'is a choice'

According to presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, homosexual behavior is a choice. "We may have certain tendencies, but [we choose] how we behave and how we carry out our behavior," Huckabee said in an interview with Tim Russert of MSNBC's "Meet the Press." Huckabee is known for his controversial remarks regarding homosexuality; as Russert reminded him, Huckabee once said he felt it was a "aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle." Although Huckabee asked Russert to understand that "when a Christian speaks of sin, a Christian says all of us are sinners," he asserted that "the perfection of God is seen in a marriage in which one man, one woman live together as a couple committed to each other as life partners." Huckabee said that he believes he has been asked more about the topic of faith than any other presidential candidate, and that he's "OK" with that. "I've never tried to rewrite science textbooks. I've never tried to come out with some way of imposing a doctrinaire Christian perspective in a way that is really against the Constitution," Huckabee told Russert. When Russert then asked why he would ban all abortions, Huckabee responded, "that's not just because I'm a Christian, that's because I'm an American. Our founding fathers said that we're all created equal." He believes that a ban on abortion would not be an example of imposing his faith on Americans, but that his pro-life stance is "a human belief. It goes to the heart of who we are as a civilization." "If you take the life and suction out the pieces of an unborn child for no reason than its inconvenience to the mother, I don't think you've lived up to your Hippocratic Oath of doing no harm," Huckabee said. Therefore, he said he would support "sanctioning" doctors who perform abortions. While Huckabee says he believes the government should not prefer one faith over another and that he would have no problem appointing atheists to his cabinet, he asserts in an ad that "Faith doesn't just influence [him], it defines [him]." "At this time of year, sometimes it's nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration and the birth of Christ," says Huckabee.