In an exclusive interview with Michigan Messenger and Between the Lines (BTL) newspaper, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee acknowledged for the first time that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is victimized by violence, but he held firm to his conviction that the civil rights struggle of the African-American community and that of the LGBT community are different. Huckabee made the comments during a book signing in Lansing Wednesday night.

“I just said there is a difference between the civil rights movement of African-Americans who were essentially hosed down in the streets by Bull Connor in Birmingham and beaten with their skulls crashed in on the bridges of Selma for being black. Not for their behavior. Not for anything other than their race. I said that was a different situation than asking for marriage to be overturned in California.”

Huckabee was responding to the outcry in the LGBT community over his comments on ABC’s “The View” last month. The following is part of an exchange between Huckabee and The View co-host Joy Behar:

HUCKABEE: It’s a different set of rights. People who are homosexuals should have every right in terms of their civil rights, to be employed, to do anything they want. But that’s not really the issue. I know you talked about it and I think you got into it a little bit early on. But when we’re talking about a redefinition of an institution, that’s different than individual civil rights. We’re never going to convince each other.

BEHAR: Well, segregation was an institution, too, in a way. it was right there on the books.

HUCKABEE: But here is the difference. Bull Connor was hosing people down in the streets of Alabama. John Lewis got his skull cracked on the Selma bridge.

Asked during the interview with BTL and Michigan Messenger if he was saying that the gay community does not experience violence, Huckabee said he thought gays were victims of violence. He also said the 133 percent increase in reported anti-gay crimes in Michigan was “not right.”

He then claimed Christians were victims of violence. First, he cited the Mount Hope Church protest as an example of violence against Christians, but when questioned about the video and whether it actually showed violence, Huckabee backed off the claim, saying instead, “Well it was certainly disruptive.”

He then quickly pivoted to the story of a 79-year-old woman whose cross was taken from her and stomped on as an example of the anti-Christian violence.

Huckabee also said he did not support hate crimes legislation, because the government should legislate against violence, not thought.

Audio of the interview and photographs from the event are available here: