Rumoured presidential candidate: Prisons prove being gay is a choice
Ben Carson, who is rumoured to become a Republican presidential candidate, said prisons prove being gay is a choice because people go into prisons straight and come out gay.
Speaking to CNN, Carson said he “absolutely” believed being gay was a choice.
He said: “Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight and when they come out, they’re gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question.”
Carson said the fight for marriage equality was not the same as fighting for racial equality because a person cannot choose their race but could ‘choose’ to be gay.
He also argued that the legalisation of same-sex marriage must be decided at state level, rather than by the federal courts.
He said: “Why do gay people want to get married? Why do they say they want to get married? Because they want to have various rights — property rights, visitation rights.
“Why can’t any two human beings, I don’t care what their sexual orientation is, why can’t they have the legal right to do those things? That does not require changing the definition of marriage.”
Carson was put on The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Extremist Watch List for comparing homosexuality to bestiality and paedophilia.
He has set up a ‘One Nation’ political action committee to raise funds for a presidential campaign. He claimed he was a “step or two” closer to running for president.
