Reply #49: It's unfortunate, because such ignorance tends to justify bigotry.

[Occam Bandage]

However, that is not in and of itself bigoted. Suppose, for a minute, that it were true that homosexuality was a choice, and that all people were born with not only the capacity to love both genders equally, but the capacity to shut off love for a particular gender. Is that naive statement in and of itself hateful? Does that statement, in and of itself, call for discrimination? Of course not. After all, people are born with the capacity to choose whatever religion (or lack thereof) they so desire, and America was founded with the recognition that the freedom to choose whatever is best for yourself, so long as it does not harm others, is sacred.

It is true that bigots often claim that homosexuality is a choice, because that lets them ignore the fact that they are discriminating against people who cannot possibly be anything but how they were born--and if they were to accept that homosexuals were born that way and could not change, then it would immediately defeat every single argument they have for discrimination.

When you look at his statement, you need to look at his record as well. Is he claiming that homosexuality is a choice to cover a record of bigotry? Well, no, he actually has a pretty good record on equal rights. It therefore seems it was made out of ignorance (whether it was a mental short-circuit or deeper-seated is hard to tell). Such ignorance is certainly not harmless, but it is not malevolent either.

And, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with anything that goes on in the State Department.