Herman Cain's statement that he
believes being gay is a choice is coming under attack.
During an appearance Wednesday night on
CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, Cain
reiterated that he believes being gay is a choice, then suggested
that it could “wash off.”
When earlier this month The View
co-host Joy Behar asked Cain, “I don't think anybody in this world
wants to be gay considering all the vilification that is brought upon
someone who is gay. Why would you choose that?” Cain answered,
“Well, you show me the science that says that it's not and I could
be persuaded,” then added, otherwise it's “just a difference of
opinion.”
On MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-hosts
Joe Scarborough and Willy Geist agreed that the suggestion that
people choose their sexuality is offensive.
“I think there might be a lot of gay
and lesbian people that would take offense at the suggestion that it
was a choice,” Scarborough said.
“And non-gay and lesbian people, I
might point out,” Geist added. (The video is embedded in the right
panel of this page.)
Gay activist Dan Savage, the founder of
the It Gets
Better Project, went further, urging Cain to choose his
sexuality.
“If being gay is a choice, show us
the proof. Choose it. Choose to be gay yourself,” Savage wrote at
the Slog,
the blog of Seattle weekly alternative The Stranger. “Show
America how that's done, Herman, show us how a man can choose to be
gay. Suck my dick, Herman. Name the time and the place and I'll
bring my dick and a camera crew and you can suck me off and win the
argument.”