Newt Gingrich Compares Choice Of Being Gay To Celibacy

Newt Gingrich believes people can choose to be straight, just like they can "choose to be celibate."

During an interview with the Des Moines Register's editorial board Thursday morning, Gingrich said he believes "people have many ranges of choices" when it comes to sexual orientation. When asked if he thinks people choose to be gay, the Republican presidential hopeful claimed "it's a combination of genetics and environment."

When asked if a person could choose to be straight, Gingrich compared the supposed choice of being gay to a priest making the decision to give up sex.

"Look, people choose to be celibate. People choose many things in life," he said. "You know, there is a bias in favor of non-celibacy. It's part of how the species recreates. And yet there is a substantial amount of people who choose celibacy as a religious vocation or for other reasons."

Gingrich -- who has a gay half-sister -- has signed pledges from both the Family Leader and the National Organization of Marriage, both vowing his support for a gay marriage ban.

The former House Speaker isn't the only candidate who has recently caused a stir over gay rights. In an interview with the Boston Herald this week, Romney said he'd support an amendment that would create a complex system of marriage.

Romney told reporters he would support a three-tier system that maintained marriage rights for straight couples and allowed gay couples who have already wed to remain married. He ruled out future same-sex marriages.

"I think it would keep intact those marriages which had occurred under the law but maintain future plans based on marriage being between a man and a woman," Romney said.

Comments

[albert 18499]

09:57 AM on 12/20/2011

Obviously Mr. Gingrich doesn't read his bible very often. Celibacy is a gift from God if you believe in Him, and not ALL people can handle the lifestyle without doing some kind of self-harm to themselves either mentally or spiritually. Paul also verifies this fact when he says "I wish all could be like me, but if you can't, then you should marry." Look at the issue of Catholic priests being forced into celibacy. Not all of them are able to live in peace with that lifestyle, much to the disappointment and dismay of the Catholic authorities who seem to agree with Mr. Gingrich that "celibacy is a choice".

[scooman]

12:48 PM on 12/19/2011

I have it on good authority that I did not choose to be gay.

[PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS]

11:43 AM on 12/19/2011

I DID NOT choose to be Gay, Newt you DID CHOOSE to be a vile hatefilled bigoted little nasty man....

[Zippy1169]

11:02 AM on 12/19/2011

Newt is so far out of touch with reality.

We just fought a war to remove a dictator who oppressed those who disagreed with him or were different than him. We fought in WWII to end the horrible reign of Hitler and discoverd the horrible atrocities inflicted on Jews, gypsies, and gays. Societal hate germinates when people of power start casting down and out a minority people. As the power of those people builds a hate can fester and grow.

What is so different about the hate speak currently spoken by our republican presidential candidates. Are they so weak they need to pick on and try cast a cloud over a minority group of people? How far will they take it.

Newt is in favor of arresting "activist" judges. What's an activist judge Newt? One that simply doesn't agree with you? This view shows no interest in our government as it was formed. If someone doesn't like a judges opinion they appeal, they don't remove or arrest.

Many folks are being led down a very scary road. If my father a life long republican most be turning in his grave. He lived through WWII Nazi control and knew how it began and where it went.

So if you are republican or democrat or independent like me you should take head of the rhetoric spewing forth from our politicians and ask is this really a person I want leading my nation founded on the most basic principles of FREEDOM.

[poeticjustice4all]

04:37 PM on 12/18/2011

This is why the gay marriage debate is wrongly argued -- it gives the haters something to fight about. I'm not surprised to hear Romney now ridiculously advocating for a three-tier system. This is exactly what happened to freed African Americans in the post Civil War South. There came the so-called Black Laws, a hodge-podge of local statutes that were designed to restrict and codify certain types of people to the point where nobody knew what was legal where and when.

I oppose gay or straight marriage -- as something which gives certain types of people special privileges, legal rights and tax benefits. One can argue that it is in the state's interest to promote families, and then we are forced to define what constitutes a family.

As long as the argument is about gay marriage, the religious right-wingers win. This should be about removing special rights conferred on select citizens for purely religious reasons.

[Erin84]

11:59 PM on 12/18/2011

"As long as the argument is about gay marriage, the religious right-wing­ers win. This should be about removing special rights conferred on select citizens for purely religious reasons." How are married people getting special rights? The rights and protections and repsonsibilites that come with marriage are specifically for unrelated people to become legal next of kin. Take away marriage, and you still need to replace with another so those people can still do that. If you choose not to make that commitment with someone, the rights and protections don't apply to you anyway, so you're not facing unjust discrimination. What is special treatment is giving some the option to marry while others are excluded. Also legal marriage is completely separate from religious marriage rites. Legal marriage is not purely for religious reasons. Two heterosexual atheists can walk into a court room and get married by a judge, never involving any religious aspects, and they are 100% as married as any couple who has a church marriage ceremony in the eyes of the law. What needs to happen, is people everywhere need to learn the difference, and stop pretending their religious doctrines have to decide the laws.

[poeticjustice4all]

12:45 AM on 12/19/2011

Over 1,400 legal rights are conferred upon married people in the U.S. that are not given to single people -- gay or straight.
Among them are the rights to:

joint parenting;

joint adoption;

joint foster care, custody, and visitation (including non-biological parents);

status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent;

joint insurance policies for home, auto and health;

dissolution and divorce protections such as community property and child support;

immigration and residency for partners from other countries;

inheritance automatically in the absence of a will;

joint leases with automatic renewal rights in the event one partner dies or leaves the house or apartment;

inheritance of jointly-owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship (which avoids the time and expense and taxes in probate);

benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare;

spousal exemptions to property tax increases upon the death of one partner who is a co-owner of the home;

veterans' discounts on medical care, education, and home loans; joint filing of tax returns;

joint filing of customs claims when traveling;

wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children;

bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or child;

decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her;

crime victims' recovery benefits;

domestic violence protection orders;

and many, many others.

[Cacey]

12:39 PM on 12/18/2011

Newt chose to become Cathoic. He chose to marry a woman 7 years older than he was. He chose to leave her and marry another woman. He chose to leave her and marry yet still another and he chose to change religions. Newt should have chosen to be celbate. His odds of becoming President would have been better.

[Zariana]

12:01 PM on 12/18/2011

Sexual orientation is an inherent characteristic. So every time I see someone who says that sexual orientation is a "choice", I can't help but think that they aren't so sure about their own sexuality.

[Syl 13]

02:14 AM on 12/18/2011

So, why do people claim this man is intelligent again? His arguments make no sense. Celibacy is refraining from marriage, not sex-that's chastity. Either way, neither changes orientation. If you're gay and chaste you're still gay. In the same statement he says he believes it's a mix of genetics and environment-both of which are beyond a person's control. How do you have a choice then?

The man's a fraud.

[PerfumeisToxic]

02:07 AM on 12/18/2011

Gingrich and his cohorts (the religious especially) NEED gay people to demonise. If gay people had equality that would not be possible to do without consequences. His obedient followers NEED someone lower than themsleves on the bully totem pole to look down on and bully so that they can feel less angry about their own weak obedience. And their masters give them this reward of free bullying in return for their obedience. It's all the sick psychology of control.

[MartiniVirtuoso]

09:57 PM on 12/17/2011

You know the Bible clearly says (in the same book that troubling anti-gay quote exists) that adulterers shall be put to death. I wonder if Newt believes in Gods "law" on that one.

[dogtac69]

04:54 AM on 12/19/2011

MartiniVirtuoso

Probably not.

[eliasasm]

06:02 PM on 12/17/2011

And this is running for the office of the most powerful person on Earth? Thank God Dec. 21,2012 is just a year away!

[Yates]

05:35 PM on 12/17/2011

these politicians are such cowards

[sb1285n]

01:29 PM on 12/17/2011

I can choose to have blue eyes, that doesn't change the fact that my eyes are brown.

I can choose to be French, that doesn't change the fact that I am Italian.

I can choose to be straight, that doesn't change the fact that I am gay.

[Emell Adolphus]

09:54 AM on 12/17/2011

As a gay man, I say--economy first, hate us later. It is no secret people don't like the LGBT facts of life, but if you want my vote you are going to have to stop wasting debate time with the same ol lets-stop-them-from-getting-married dog and pony show.

We will get married. We are Lgbt. We will continue to fight, as long as there is a fight to be fought. Ignorance is old news, but I don't want to have my children, who will have two dads, grow-up in a Mad-Max-and-the-Thunderdome civilization. So lets talk the health of the country, and not what two healthy adults do in the privacy of their own homes. It has already been proven that Gays stimulate the economy, so we are doing our part. What do you plan to do?

[PerfumeisToxic]

02:13 AM on 12/18/2011

It really isn't about what adults do in their homes. It's about maintaining strict division between the sexes and gender role compulsion. Gay people are seen as a threat to this compulsion. Without exception EVERY homophobe is also a sexist. The two go together. So gay men have a vested interest in ending sexism. If women are looked down on and bullied gay men will ALSO be looked down on and bullied. As gay men will always be seen as closer to the female element than straight men. Homophobia cannot end while sexism runs rampant.

[johntangier]

08:25 AM on 12/17/2011

WHY DOES NEWT GO OUT OF HIS WAY TO BROADCAST HIS IGNORANCE?