Washington, D.C. – Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee says expecting Christians to accept same-sex marriage is “like asking someone who’s Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli.” He also called homosexuality part of a lifestyle, like drinking and swearing. The former Arkansas governor’s comments came during an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” as he defended an excerpt from his new book in which he says he has friends and associates who are gay.

“People can be my friends who have lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyle. I don’t shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view,” Huckabee told CNN’s Dana Bash, while deflecting a question about whether he believes being gay is a choice. “I don’t drink alcohol, but gosh – a lot of my friends, maybe most of them, do. You know, I don’t use profanity, but believe me, I’ve got a lot of friends who do. Some people really like classical music and ballet and opera – it’s not my cup of tea,” Huckabee said.

However, the former governor of Arkansas seems to have trouble being consistent in his tone, and most of all, statements. In a subsequent interview with Newslo, he suggested that “all members of the LGBT community in America need to be rounded up and placed into concentration camps,” for the purpose of “containing, quarantining and studying the disease from reaching the youngest members of our population.”

“I’m sure that my gay friends are going to be surprised by what I just said,” he continued, “but they know full well just how professional I am when it comes to my many jobs. I mean, who else have you heard of who was a pastor, a politician, book author and presidential hopeful at the same time? Heck, all I need now is to get myself over to the Vatican and become Pope, that’s pretty much the only thing that could top everything I’ve got going on at the moment.”

Huckabee added: “As for gays and other communities similar to them, I really do feel that concentration camps would be a good solution. And I don’t just mean that in a way that would enable them to socialize with other members of their kind; that kind of approach would also give us a one-of-a-kind opportunity to study them and their behavior while they’re in their natural surroundings. We might even bring in some cameras, like maybe National Geographic, Discovery and the like. But, for this particular occasion, my money would be on Animal Planet. Yes, I would definitely like to see them do a series about gays in captivity.”

“I mean, I always try to do my job with a 100%, pedal-to-the-medal approach. So, you can rest assure that no gays, lesbians and other fornicators would be spared from the roundup, regardless of whether they happen to be my friends or not. And the best part about the whole idea is the fact that we would most likely be able to develop a cure in such conditions. We would have unhindered access to many members of the population, which means a constant source of test subjects in laboratory conditions. We’d better learn how to spot the symptoms early on and prevent the disease before it reaches adulthood.”