Carl Paladino: Don't Be 'Brainwashed' Into Thinking Homosexuality Is 'Equally Valid' (VIDEO)

New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino spoke on gay rights to a group of orthodox Jewish leaders in Brooklyn today, promising to veto marriage equality legislation and touting the fact that he didn't march in this year's gay pride parade.

In his remarks, Paldadino said:

We must stop pandering to the pornographers and the perverts, who seek to target our children and destroy their lives. I didn't march in the gay parade parade this year -- the gay pride parade this year. My opponent did. And that's not the example that we should be showing our children, certainly not in our schools. (APPLAUSE) And don't misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way; that would be a dastardly lie. My approach is live and let live. I just think my children, and your children, will be much better off, and much more successful getting married and raising a family. And I don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn't. (APPLAUSE)

WATCH (video captured by Azi Paybarah of WNYC):

According to Newsday's Reid Epstein, the line, "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual. that is not how G-d created us" was in Paladino's prepared text but left out of his actual speech.

In response to Paladino's remarks, Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto put out a statement reading, "Mr. Paladino's statement displays a stunning homophobia and a glaring disregard for basic equality. These comments along with other views he has espoused make it clear that he is way out of the mainstream and is unfit to represent New York."

Paladino's campaign manager Michael Caputo also responded, drawing a contrast between the two candidates: "There's a very clear difference between Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino. One of them is that Andrew Cuomo promises gay marriage will be legal in the first year of his administration. Carl Paladino has promised he would veto any such legislation. We believe that when the people of New York understand exactly where both candidates stand on this particular issue they will make their choices accordingly."

Paladino's comments come as police are investigating a series of brutal hate crimes against gay men in the Bronx. The suspects reportedly beat, tortured and sodomized three men because of their sexuality. The suicides by several gay students across the nation have also been in the headlines in recent weeks.

Comments

[temenos]

04:28 AM on 10/24/2010

A conservative's definition of a "right" is the untrammeled prerogative to deny rights to others.

[nonpartisanparty]

03:54 PM on 10/13/2010

I'm sure this has been commented on, but it needs to be pointed out that not all Orthodox Jews are Hasidic. The Hasidic community is small and extreme. I don't believe the two should be conflated. Many of my cousins are Orthodox, and they and their communities fully support equal rights for the LGBT community. For a group of peoples who have suffered inequality like the Jewish (including Hasidics), it is disgusting that they could possibly be trumpeting the curtailment of rights and defamation (by lumping homosexuals in the same general group as predators) of another group suffering from unequal treatment.

[mercury613]

01:49 PM on 10/13/2010

Apparently, Paladino is just fine with homosexuality when it puts cash in his pockets.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/13/paladino-rented-to-gay-cl_n_760750.html

[FlightRisk]

11:09 AM on 10/13/2010

I think what's being said here is very accurate. The point is, not to be against those who live a homosexual lifestyle, but not to build it into the fabric of either society or government.

[StevenWells]

12:10 PM on 10/13/2010

You're perfectly free to "think what's being said here is very accurate," but as a gay man, I can tell you it isn't.

Your point may be "not to build it into the fabric of either society or government;" mine is that we already are part of both, and always have been. We're Americans, with just as much right to participate in all aspects of American life as anyone else.

Like it or lump it.

[bushwickfreddy]

12:16 PM on 10/13/2010

I'm no spokesperson, but I can safely say that my fellow Gays don't want to have our "lifestyle"----which, I hate to break to news to you, is no more decadent, fabulous or crazy than your life, built into the fabric of either society or government. We go to work, pay our taxes, worry about the economy, celebrate holidays and birthdays and generally want to be treated as citizens--not some fringe group out to convert your children. I'd like to think you would be surprised if you learned the number of closeted and married government officials, church members and your neighbors who are out there quietly suffering because of bigoted beliefs and attitudes such as yours.

[bordway]

08:31 AM on 10/13/2010

Now this candidate comes out and says that he's sorry for what he's said. For a state as diverse as New York, we hope our governor will be comfortable with the diversity of it. Sorry Carl, but you simply fit the Tea Party mold. It ain't enough!

[Justjack1]

10:57 AM on 10/13/2010

Yes, he has totally lost this one.

[jolofboy]

07:36 PM on 10/12/2010

"Unfit to represent NY" says it all...
I really feel sorry for these people with the way they embarass their kids,siblings or plainly anyone in their family.
what is he going to do with gay and lesbian people once elected? kill them? or send them to a concentration camp?
This new breed of politicians rising from nowhere are equal to the Talibans if you look closely.

[Trackerinblue]

06:18 PM on 10/12/2010

Well, let's see if Mr. Paladino thinks a federal judge is "brainwashed."

POLITICO Breaking News
-------------------------------------------------

A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to halt all enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips of Riverside, Calif., issued the injunction after finding last month that the policy, passed by Congress in 1993, violates the constitutional rights of service members. She acted on a lawsuit brought by a gay GOP group, the Log Cabin Republicans.

For more information... http://www.politico.com

[StevenWells]

03:11 PM on 10/12/2010

"...don't misquote me," he says, "as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way."

No "misquote" necessary. He calls us "perverts, who seek to target our children and destroy their lives," and says he doesn't want them "to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn't."

The meaning is quite clear from his own words.

[FlightRisk]

11:13 AM on 10/13/2010

Where does he "hurt" anybody in saying that? If it's truly perverted, then it is what it is. The brainwashing he wants to avoid is precisely that--maintaining that it's not perverted if it is.

[StevenWells]

12:00 PM on 10/13/2010

I doubt there's much point, but I'll explain anyway.

Putting forth the ideas he does - that LGBT Americans "target children," "destroy lives" or are somehow less valid as individuals - foster the kind of attitudes that result in marginalization, discrimination and violence. I'd think that would be self-evident.

As for "perversion;" it's so simply because he says it? "Perversion" is in the minds of those perceiving it, and some of the images he's included in emails he distributed to friends contain activities that are considered perverted by far more people than consider homosexuality to be so.

And "brainwashing?" Where and how, exactly, would this occur? All are free to approve, disapprove or ignore as they see fit where homosexuality is concerned, and no one's being forced or coerced into thinking - or doing - anything. It's a lot closer to "brainwashing" when bigoted attitudes of office-seekers and holders encourage both hostile attitudes and laws which permit unequal treatment of selected classes of citizens.

As you say, "it is what it is." What is is, is this: my partner and I, who are in our 29th year together, live a life that is virtually indistinguishable from the couple's next door - working, taking care of the house, cutting the grass, going to the supermarket, paying taxes, etc - except that we both wear pants.

And, for the record, neither of us has ever targeted a single child or destroyed a single life. All the neighbors think we're nice people. And

[talilah33]

04:42 PM on 10/13/2010

"Where does he "hurt" anybody in saying that?"

Um, the part where he calls gays "perverts", obviously. If that's not hurtful, I don't know what is. Why on earth would you think that being gay is "perverted"? It's NOT.

[leyvadaniel]

02:45 PM on 10/12/2010

Paladino is bad news for the State of NY:

Pladino seems to enjoy zoophilia and fathering children with women other than his spouse, yet, he has no problem attacking law abiding/tax paying homosexuals?

Paladino made up stuff about Andrew Cuomo, but he has never been able to present proof of his claims.

Paladino has no people's skills, which is scary. Is he going to try to intimidate any opposition telling them "I will take you down" like he did with the reporter? (He claim he was defending his family.... a family that he has hidden up to that point... he is using his daughter as a shield to protect his attacks on people?

In short, Paladino is not fit to serve the people of the Great Statate of New York.

[time2impeach]

02:29 PM on 10/12/2010

New York Voters: "Don't be Brainwashed Into Thinking Carl Paladino is an 'Equally Valid' Choice for Governor!"

[ThtTRUTHx1000]

01:45 PM on 10/12/2010

"We must stop pandering to the pornographers and the perverts,"
I wonder if he was thinking about those lovely emails he forwarded when he spewed that statement!

However the most disturbing part of the whole speech is both the applause and the support he received afterwards.
Everyone of the Hasidics there should be ashamed of themselves.
However I don't think they are!

Here a link to the K. Olbermann show that shows more of Paladinos speech and the Rabbi that wrote it for him, SICKENING in my opinion!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

[p456]

09:20 AM on 10/12/2010

He was given this speech to read by those Hasidic Jewish priests in the back ground. He needs their support so to get it he read what was written without question. What is even worse than that is the applause afterward.

[Jim281]

10:20 AM on 10/12/2010

Imagine that! The highpriest from ONE oft' H8ed group throwing stones at another oft' H8ed group of citizens. Maybe their strategy is, if they get enough people to H8 gays, their own enemies may stop finding enough time to H8 them too?

[bookreader451]

10:33 AM on 10/12/2010

Hasidic Jews have Rabbis not priests. They are also a very narrow minded community kind just like the Christian religious right. I feel sorry for any of the children in that community realizing they are gay and being torn with no one to turn to.

[John Taylor 2]

08:37 AM on 10/12/2010

Let's see... Sir Elton John, George Michael (okay, drug problems but there's plenty of that with straight people too,) Sir Ian McClellan (Gandolf from LOTR,) David Geffen (Geffen Records, Dreamworks films, self-made, 4.6 BILLION dollars NET worth,)... It's a very LONG list, and that's just amongst those who are out of the closet. And that's just financial success. If a broader measure is employed, millions of gay people are successful in many many ways, and the exceptions are directly caused by people like Paladino and their bigotry. NY doesn't need that ignorant and narrow a person as Governor.

[Jim281]

10:21 AM on 10/12/2010

I still say Palamino would be unworthy to clean Oscar Wilde's toilette. (Though he probably DOES resemble much of the traffic that has passed thru it!)

[KenClay]

07:57 AM on 10/12/2010

Gay Proud And Successful !!!!!!

[Jim281]

10:24 AM on 10/12/2010

Is that you, Anderson? FINALLY telling everyone what we all have long been aware of? LOL

(If Felicia is going to beaitch about the diparaging use of the word "gay", she should at least be honest, and tell everyone also that she knows FIRST HAND why that is hurtful!)

[thraceguy]

03:48 AM on 10/12/2010

You have to be carefully taught, as the old song goes, and I think Paladino is the one who was brainwashed into ignoring equal rights and how much society has welcomed those once hidden away and criminalized

[godwithin]

11:55 AM on 10/12/2010

one of the most moving musical creations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o192z82ka-8