George Pataki attacks Mike Huckabee for ‘I wish I were trans’ joke
Mike Huckabee’s Republican rival for the 2016 presidential nomination George Pataki has slammed him for comments he made about trans people last year.
Huckabee last year joked that he wishes he had been transgender as a teen – so he could ogle teenage girls in the shower. He made the comments at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention.
Ranting about anti-discrimination laws in a number of cities that outlaw discrimination based on gender identity, he joked about being transgender himself.
He said : “We are now in city after city watching ordinances say that your seven-year-old daughter, if she goes into the restroom, cannot be offended and you can’t be offended if she’s greeted there by a 42-year-old man who feels more like a woman than he does a man.
“Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE.
“I’m pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘Coach, I think I’d rather shower with the girls today’.”
Pataki, a former Governor of New York and 2016 presidential candidate has said he thought Huckabee’s comments were not a laughing matter.
He said on CNN: “I think the more important point is we should give people their dignity and let them make their own decisions.
“If someone chooses a path that’s different than mine, we should respect it as opposed to mocking it or in any way trying to prevent that.”
Pataki, who provides a more moderate Republican voice,also tweeted similar remarks about former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, who celebrated her transition on the cover of Vanity Fair.
Huckabee and Pataki are two of nine Republicans who have officially declared they will run for President.
