Biden bashes Carson over homosexuality comments

by Jesse Byrnes - 03/06/15 2:02 PM ET

Vice President Biden bashed Ben Carson on Friday for comments the retired pediatric neurosurgeon and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate made earlier this week about gay people.

Carson offered a lengthy apology Wednesday for suggesting that people choose their own sexuality, saying people “go into prison straight and when they come out, they’re gay.”

{mosads}Biden ripped into Carson’s comments on Friday as evidence to suggest a deeper political issue among Republicans.

“Eight, 10 years ago — even two years ago — homophobic statements would have been, if not embraced, not viewed as having generated any political liability. Look what’s happening in the other party today,” Biden said in a speech at the Human Rights Campaign in Washington.

“Seriously, don’t misread the political trends in history here. Now, every ridiculous assertion — from Dr. Carson on. … I mean Jesus, God,” Biden said to raucous applause.

“I mean — oh, God,” Biden said. “It’s kind of hard to fathom, isn’t it?”

During an appearance on CNN on Wednesday morning, Carson said some people leave prison gay, proving they can choose to be gay. Carson apologized Wednesday evening.

“I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation,” he wrote on Facebook. “I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended.”

Carson, a former star surgeon at Johns Hopkins University, invoked his medical expertise, adding, “Some of our brightest minds have looked at this debate, and up until this point, there have been no definitive studies that people are born into a specific sexuality.”

Biden cited the incident as indicative of a broader change in acceptance for gay people and others across the country.

“Think about the universal ridicule. That wouldn’t have happened two years ago, five years ago. It matters, it matters. It shocks the conscience that at this moment in American history, 29 states in America, people are denied basic dignity because of who they are or who they love,” Biden said.

Tags 2016 Ben Carson Joe Biden