Rick Perry: Gays Are Like Alcoholics

At an appearance in San Francisco, yesterday Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he doesn't know if "ex-gay" therapy works. And then he compared homosexuality to alcoholism.

The Texas Republican Party this month adopted a platform supporting access to "reparative therapy" for gays and lesbians, a widely discredited process intended to change sexual orientation. In response to an audience question about it Wednesday night, Perry said he did not know whether the therapy worked. Commonwealth Club interviewer Greg Dalton then asked him whether he believes homosexuality is a disorder. "Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that," Perry said. "I may have the genetic coding that I'm inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way." The large crowd gathered at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins hotel on Nob Hill included many Perry supporters. But the comment still drew a murmur of disbelief.

Let's see if he walks this one back. (Tipped by JMG reader Arthur)