Yesterday in her interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) spoke on homosexuality, saying that she won’t “judge people,” but it is still a lifestyle choice that she would not make:
I have, one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years who happens to be gay. And I love her dearly. And she is not my “gay friend.” She is one of my best friends who happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I have made. But I am not gonna judge people. And I love America where we are more tolerant than other countries are. And are more accepting of some of these choices that sometimes people want to believe reflects solely on an individual’s values or not. Homosexuality, I am not gonna judge people.
Watch it:
Homosexuality is not a choice, as all major mainstream medical and mental health professional organizations have concluded. According to the American Psychological Association, “[M]ost people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.” Also, despite saying that she won’t “judge” gay people, she backed a state constitutional ban to deny spousal benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees.
As Couric pointed out, Palin’s church, the Wasilla Bible Church, also takes the position that homosexuality is a choice. In fact, it has sponsored a conference by James Dobson’s Focus on the Family to help gays “overcome” their homosexuality through prayer and covert them into being straight. These programs are also opposed by every major medical association.
Couric: Your church sponsored a conference that claimed to be able to convert gays into heterosexuals through prayer. Do you think that gays can be converted, governor?
Palin: Well, you’re absolutely wrong, again, on the facts. My church, I don’t have a church, I’m not a member of any church. I get to visit a couple of churches in Alaska when I’m home, including one, Wasilla Bible Church, and that’s the one that you’re talking about.
Couric: Right. I think James Dobson’s group … had a convention or a meeting there. And your church —
Palin: No, I think they —
Couric: — supported it.
Palin: The Wasilla Bible Church had a flyer that was part of a bulletin or something —
Couric: But you know what? That doesn’t even matter. Let me just ask you the question.
Palin: Well, it matters, though, because, Katie, when the media gets it wrong, it frustrates Americans who are just trying to get the facts and be able to make up their mind on, about a person’s values. So it does matter —
Couric: — you’re correcting us.
Palin: But you are talking about, I think, a value here, what my position is on homosexuality and can you pray it away ’cause I think that was the title that was listed in that bulletin. And, you know, I don’t know what prayers are worthy of being prayed. And I don’t know what prayers are gonna be answered or not answered. But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships.
I have, one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years who happens to be gay. And I love her dearly. And she is not my “gay friend.” She is one of my best friends who happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I have made. But I am not gonna judge people. And I love America where we are more tolerant than other countries are. And are more accepting of some of these choices that sometimes people want to believe reflects solely on an individual’s values or not. Homosexuality, I am not gonna judge people.