Mike Huckabee says he has gay friends and associates who he does not shut out of his life because they have a “different point of view.” The former Arkansas governor told CNN on Sunday that homosexuality is part of a lifestyle, just like swearing or drinking, saying people can be his friends even if they have lifestyles that are not the same as his.

Huckabee said that he does not drink alcohol but has a lot of friends who do. He does not swear, but has friends who do. Some people like classical music, opera and ballet, but “it’s not my cup of tea.”

The Republican presidential hopeful said that expecting Christians to start accepting same-sex marriage is the same as asking a Jewish person to start serving shrimp wrapped in bacon in their deli. However, he said that there is room for gays in the Republican party, and he would like to think that America can accommodate people with different points of view, without screaming, shouting, and trying to shut their businesses down. He opposes GOP party bickering, saying he looks at other Republicans as people on the same team. They all just happen to be trying for the job of quarterback.

Huckabee said that there is no chance he will change his mind on gay marriage, pointing to President Barack Obama changing his stance on the subject after his views “evolved” between the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. An ordained Baptist minister, Huckabee said it is not a political issue but a scriptural one, and it not his place to just evolve unless he gets a new version of the Bible.

A new Des Moines Register poll shows Huckabee running third among likely 2016 Republican contenders for the White House, behind leaders Scott Walker and Rand Paul. Although he won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, the former governor notes that “I was an asterisk if I even got mentioned in a poll,” so feels he has made significant progress.