Former neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, who is hoping for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, was on CNN today, where he shared his opinion on homosexuality. He believes that the prison system is evidence that being gay is a choice.
While sitting down with New Day’s Chris Cuomo, the issue of gay marriage came up, which gave Carson an opportunity to make his stance clear. While he thinks that same-sex couples should have the same rights as married couples, he doesn’t want to use the world “marriage” to describe their relationship.
“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,” Caron told Cuomo. “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.”
Later, Cuomo asked if being gay was a choice and Carson replied, “Absolutely.” According to him, many people who are in prison come out as gay.
“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 told Cuomo.
Carson launched his exploratory committee on Tuesday. NBC News notes that he has earned some support among early primary voters and took fourth place in the CPAC conference straw poll last weekend.
screenshot from CNN YouTube video