In recent years, Dr. Ben Carson has, sadly, become more so known for his highly conservative beliefs, critiques of President Obama, and homophobic viewpoints rather than his years as a pioneering black doctor. Unfortunately, Carson did nothing to redeem himself in the public eye this past weekend when he spoke at the the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., and scoffed at the idea that gay people should be able to legally marry.
According to the Baltimore Sun, on Saturday, the former Johns Hopkins surgeon addressed last year’s controversy surrounding his interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity, in which he compared same-sex marriage to bestiality. Carson later apologized for his words, but now it seems he’s choosing to stand firmly behind them.
“I hate PC, and I will continue to defy the PC police who have tried in many cases to shut me up. I still believe marriage is between a man and woman.” said Carson.
The doctor then went on to bash those who believe that he did indeed compare same-sex marriage to bestiality, although, as he states, he still takes issue with idea of marriage being redefined.
“Because I said nobody gets to change the definition or marriage, and because I happened to mention some categories, they said, ‘Carson said gay marriage and bestiality are the same thing,’” he told the CPAC crowd.
“Well, that’s preposterous. Anybody who believes that is a dummy. But anybody who believes somebody who says somebody said that is also a dummy,” he added.
Carson then claimed that the LGBT community should be treated equally, but that they shouldn’t have equal rights to marriage.
“Of course, gay people should have the same rights as everyone else,” he continued. “But they don’t get extra rights. They don’t get to redefine marriage.”
Well, it’s clear how Carson feels on the matter. It’s just shameful and unfortunate that a man who likely dealt with several years of oppression, racism and resistance in the medical field (and in life) over the color of his skin doesn’t understand how excluding gay people from the right to marry is a form of discrimination that dehumanizes them in the public eye and makes them easy targets for other forms of oppression. Carson may be able to heal the bodies of many, and that’s something he should always be commended for, but his words are doing nothing to heal the wounds of the oppressed underprivileged. – nicholas robinson
