Florida Rep. Allen West says his
opposition to open military service supports his analogy that being
gay is like liking a particular flavor of ice cream.
The 50-year-old conservative politician
told the Fort Lauderdale-based Sun Sentinel that he believes
being gay is a choice.
“You cannot compare me and my race to
a behavior,” said West, who is African-American. “Sexuality is a
behavior. And so yeah, I said I can't change my color. People can
change their sexual behavior. And I've seen people do that. I grew
up in Atlanta, Georgia, so I've seen a very different perspective on
human behaviors. So that's where I'm coming from on that.”
When asked, “Should gay people change
their behavior and not be gay?” West replied: “No. I like
chocolate chip ice cream and I will continue to like chocolate chip
ice cream. So there's no worry about me changing to vanilla. I like
to, you know, ride my motorcycle. What do you want me to do? You
want me to change my behavior and ride a scooter? I'm not into
that.”
Lois Frankel, who is running to replace
West, criticized West's comments: “Allen West's recent comments
continue to embarrass South Florida. By claiming that being gay was
a choice and then going on to liken it to his choice of ice cream
flavor, West has continued the irresponsible pattern of behavior he
displayed in last month's sexist attacks on Congresswoman Wasserman
Schultz.”
West defended his comments during an
interview with South
Florida ABC affiliate WPBF 25 News, saying the comments had been
taken out of context.
“I think that what I said is that is
behavior and so what I talked about is look I prefer or I like
chocolate chip ice cream and I'm not going against what someone
prefers as their behavior preference in their life. But when you
start to understand about the United States military – the United
States military serves one mission, that's to fight and win our
nation's wars. And if we start to take the military and try to
conform it to individual behaviors, no matter what those individual
behaviors are, we are going to loose the essence of what the United
States military is.”
Previously, West
warned that gay marriage would lead to the destruction of society.