In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Beyoncé concern troll and potential presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee blamed the "militant gay community" for inciting undue backlash against religious-freedom laws passed in Arkansas—of which he is the former governor—and Indiana.

"There’s been more pressure this week to put sanctions on Indiana than Iran," Huckabee said. "The reason that those corporations put the pressure on Indiana and Arkansas was because the militant gay community put the pressure on them," he said. Lawmakers in both Indiana and Arkansas passed revised versions of the law on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Huckabee appeared on a talk radio show produced by the Christian Family Research Council, the Guardian reports. "The left has gotten very good at creating a crisis, something to divide the country," he said.

"Well, it won’t stop until there are no more churches, until there are no more people who are spreading the gospel. And I’m talking now about the unapologetic, unabridged gospel that is really God’s truth."

As it turns out, at least some Arkansas conservatives are perfectly happy with the new legislation, which does not address discrimination directly. From the Times:

Sexual orientation or identity is not covered by Arkansas civil rights law, and an attempt to extend civil rights protections went nowhere in the Legislature this year. Lawmakers did pass a measure barring towns and cities from having nondiscrimination ordinances that offer more protections than the state; a couple of Arkansas cities had adopted measures that included gay men and lesbians.

"That bill was the Rolls-Royce of religious freedom bills," Family Council president Jerry Cox told the Times, referring to the original law. "The one that we have now, it’s a Cadillac but it’s still very good." So much for the militant gay community!

Photo credit: AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.