Paladino Unsure if Homosexuality is a Choice
Amanda Terkel reports:
New York's Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino appeared on several morning talk shows on Monday to defend his remarks to Orthodox Jewish leaders over the weekend, in which he said that children shouldn't be "brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option." Paladino stood by his comments but insisted that he is not homophobic and would hire LGBT individuals into his administration if he is elected.
In his interviews, Paladino pointed out that he has a gay nephew and currently employs LGBT individuals in his organization. When asked to explain his comments about why being gay is not an "equally valid" option, Paladino insisted that he was simply talking about the fact that gay individuals face more discrimination. From his interview with NBC's Matt Lauer:
LAUER: One can only deduce from that comment that you do not think the homosexual lifestyle is equal to the heterosexual lifestyle.
PALADINO: It's a very very ugly experience for those that are discriminated against. It's terrible, and it shouldn't be. Our society should be more accepting --
LAUER: But don't comments like this create that kind of discrimination? If the lifestyle is not equally valid or successful, then why shouldn't people treat homosexuals differently than they treat heterosexuals?
PALADINO: You know Matt, when I talk about issues such as this, I talk from my heart. And I expect the press will properly interpret my remarks. If they don't interpret my remarks properly, and they want to skewer them, and that's apparently the problem with this line, that's wrong where I come from.
Lauer also challenged Paladino about whether was truly speaking from his heart. "My impression of that event was that you weren't talking from your heart; you were talking from a prepared text," said Lauer. "And one of the questions I have, and it's been reported, that some of the content of what you read was actually written by those Jewish leaders, the very same group of people you were going to talk to."
Paladino replied that "somebody" had inserted the line about gay men and women being "dysfunctional," but he excised it from the speech he actually gave because he didn't agree with it. He said a staff member didn't write it, but he didn't know definitively who did.
On "Good Morning America," host George Stephanopoulos asked Paldino whether he believes "homosexuality is a choice." "I've had difficulty with that," he replied. "My nephew tells me he didn't have that choice, and I believe it's a very very difficult life for a young person. I believe that young people should not necessarily be exposed to that, without a really really mature background first so they can learn to do with it. It's a very difficult thing, and I sensitize with it, totally."
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