News

Carson refuses to address comments on gay rights

by Ben Kamisar - 06/11/15 4:07 PM ET

Ben Carson repeatedly refused to address his recent comments contrasting the gay rights movement to the civil rights movement during an interview Thursday on CNN.

“I don’t really want to talk about the gay issue, except maybe you could get the answer for this question: What position can a person take who has no animosity toward gay people but believes in the traditional definition of marriage that would be acceptable?” Carson said during a phone call on CNN’s “Wolf.”

Asked whether gays face discrimination, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate responded by asking host Brianna Keilar, “Can we move on to something more important?”

{mosads}“Every group faces some type of discrimination,” he said. “Christians face a lot of discrimination. I wish we would talk more about that.”

Keilar wanted Carson to respond to his comments Wednesday on Fox News’s “Special Report,” where he explained why he said in March that sexuality is a choice and that “a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight, and when they come out, they’re gay.”

Carson told Fox he made the “boneheaded statement” because he was “irritated” CNN host Chris Cuomo had tried to equate the civil rights movement and gay rights.

“Quite frankly, I didn’t remember any times when there were signs up that says, ‘Everybody else here and gay people have to drink at this fountain,’ ” he said Wednesday.

Carson wouldn’t explain those comments during the CNN interview, except to say, “Everybody has equal rights, nobody has extra rights.” He added, “Everybody should be protected against discrimination.”

Tags Ben Carson