Teabagger Senate Candidate Ken Buck: Gayness Is A Choice, Like Alcoholism

Today on Meet The Press, teabagger Senate candidate Ken Buck declared that being gay is a choice. Except when it's not, like for alcoholics. Or something. Via Talking Points Memo:

Colorado Senate candidates Ken Buck (R) and incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet (D) met for a debate on Meet The Press this morning and sparred on the budget, the Tea Party and flip-flops. But the most controversial moment came when host David Gregory asked Buck if he believes that being gay is a choice. Buck responded that he thought it was a choice, but allowed that "birth has an influence over it, like alcoholism and some other things." The comments came at the end of the debate, when Gregory asked Buck to expand on some recent comments he'd made about "lifestyle choices" when expressing his support for the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Buck said he believed being gay is a choice, and Gregory asked him: "based on what?" "Based on what?" Buck said. "I guess you could choose who your partner is." "I think that birth has an influence over it, like alcoholism and some other things," Buck continued. "But I think that, basically, you have a choice."

Buck currently leads incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet by four to seven points in the polls.

UPDATE: The Human Rights Campaign responds via press release.

"Mr. Buck’s ill-informed views are not only factually inaccurate, but they are extremely dangerous,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “In the past six weeks a number of teenagers have taken their own lives after being the victims of anti-gay bullying and harassment. When public figures like Mr. Buck make statements like he did today, kids struggling with their identities question their self-worth and other kids justify bullying. Ken Buck must correct his remarks now." "This is yet another in a long line of examples showing that Ken Buck is out of touch with the majority of Coloradans,” said One Colorado Executive Director Brad Clark. “Instead of focusing on common values of respect for all people, Buck is spewing divisive, extreme rhetoric. His claim that homosexuality is a choice is yet another example of his extreme views falling out of step with everyday Coloradans."