Posted on 12/16/2011 5:51:42 PM PST by Kazan
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich suggested Thursday that being gay is a choice. At least for some people.
Asked if people can choose to be gay, Gingrich told the Des Moines Register editorial board that he does not "believe in genetic determinism, and I don't think there is any great evidence of genetic determinism."
He said that certain people may choose to be gay if they have certain genetic traits and are raised in a certain environment.
"I think people have a significant range of choice within a genetic pattern," he said. "I believe it's a combination of genetics and environment. I think that both are involved. I think people have many ranges of choices."
Gingrich's appears to be saying people can choose to be gay if they have certain "propensities" and genetic and environmental characteristics. Asked if people can choose to be straight, he responded, "Look, people choose to be celibate."
"People choose many things in life," he said. "You know, there is a bias in favor of non-celibacy. It's part of how the species recreates. And yet there is a substantial amount of people who choose celibacy either out of religious vocation or for other reasons."
Earlier in the interview, Gingrich was asked if he saw a correlation between the civil rights and gay rights movements. He called the parallel "ludicrous" and "offensive," saying no one is trying to segregate gay Americans. The former House speaker added that his position reflects "a 3,000 year tradition that is very deep in our culture for very profound reasons."
"I think there's an enormous difference between an inescapable fact of race...and a question about culture," he said. "A question about 'what are your values?' I think marriage is between a man and a woman. That's a value proposition."
"There's a big difference between saying that you are going to have an acceptance of people's lifestyle and saying you now are going to normalize that as the standard for the whole country," he continued, before reiterating his support for reinstating the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Gingrich, whose half-sister Candace Gingrich-Jones is gay, earlier this week said he supported sending a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage to the states.
Gays recruit younger or vulnerable people to become gay. The “victim” wants to be liked so goes along with this repulsive, disgusting behavior to be “liked”.
The major contribution of sodomites to society is its decay.
I prefer the policy BEFORE Don't Ask Don't Tell -- "Don't Lisp, Don't Bugger". Let's see if any candidate has the courage to go there. People with behavioral disorders simply should not be serving in the military, period.
homosexuality not a choice ?
two words....ann heche
Why do you think they call it "sexual preference"?
He was not gay. At the most he was bi but even that is doubtful and does not come from any contemporary source the first reference seems to have come from people who disliked him about 100 years after his death.
:puts soap box away:
Thank you.
However, any activity is a choice. To put it bluntly, any guy can choose where he sticks his johnson. I have a thing for redheaded ladies. I have a longtime girlfriend. If I go home with that redhead at the bar and cheat on my girl, that's a choice in the same matter. I don't think she'd buy that "I can't help it. I was born that way with an inclination towards redheads." Newt Gingrich chose to have his affairs. That's his choice.
We all make choices and have to live with them.
that works too.
when claimed it’s not a choice, I always use anne heche...there’s no comeback for it.
Take one look and you’ll realize that Newt’s half-sister is all man!
What you DO or DOn’t DO.. is always a choice..
Sometimes, the fence IS the road.
I don’t doubt that in a sinful, broken world, that during pregnancies, a developing female baby can receive too much testosterone and that can cause some unnatural changes in the female brain. Likewise a male baby either not receiving enough testosterone or some female hormones during brain development.
However, the identical twin studies where one twin is gay, show that genetics do not cause it, as if it were genetics alone, the other twin would HAVE to be gay. Only half the time the other twin is gay. These studies show that even with genetics AND the growing up in the same environment, both of these are not enough to make the other twin gay 100% of the time, only 1/2 the time.
Also throw in all the “gays” that have admitted making a conscious choice to be gay, they are done with men or women, for one reason or another. Those that say they are making a statement.
It’s behavior. It’s change-able. Whether the person genuinely wants to change it is another matter.
I am but he can't crack 10% in the polls and has little, if any chance, of winning. Newt is the only one that appears to have a chance to win that has promised to reinstate DADT.
His comments prove he isn't afraid of homosexual radicals and prove to me he can be trusted on the issue.
You could flap your gums for an eternity and I still wouldn’t give you a reach around. ;-)
I really wish FReepers wouldn't let anonymous poll takers select their candidates for them...certainly not at this point in the pre-primaries anyways. It's circular logic and kind of the reverse-Kardashian effect. The Kardashians are famous because other people say they are famous. Santorum is unpopular because everyone is easily swayed into believing he's unpopular. In the past few weeks, I've read innumerable times, "I like Santorum, but he can't get any traction in the polls."
Sometimes "conventional wisdom," isn't all that wise.
I call it sexual orientation, not preference. The idea that I like vagina, but in a pinch I’ll take penis is absurd.
Could you choose to not be hetrosexual? I can abstain, but I’ll always be attracted to women.
I think the gay lifestyle is a choice for some gays. I stood in a long line waiting for a museum to open in New Orleans. A short fat middle aged woman next to me talked on her cell phone as if she was alone. She talked about the “choice” she had made when she was younger and how much she regretted it now. It was really extremely sad. I know my hairdresser is a lonely gay man but don’t know his history.
Newt was adopted by his mother's second husband. His sister is his half-sibling.
ROFLMAO!!
What is wrong with ““Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy”?
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