Governor hopeful: Gays dysfunctional

2010-10-11 08:55

New York - Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino told Orthodox Jewish leaders on Sunday he doesn't want children "brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality" is acceptable.

While Paladino, a multimillionaire developer from Buffalo, who has in the past stated that he is opposed to gay marriage, his most recent comments were striking because they came hours after eight people were arraigned in an attack on a gay man and two gay teens in the Bronx on October 3.

Paladino, who has received strong support from conservative-libertarian "tea party" activists, made the comments at a synagogue in Brooklyn's Williamsburg section while trying to strike a contrast between himself and his Democratic rival, state Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo. Paladino said he chose not to march in this summer's gay pride parade but his opponent did.

"That's not how God created us," Paladino said of being gay, "and that's not the example that we should be showing our children."

‘Not anti-gay’

He added that children who later in life choose to marry people of the opposite sex and raise families would be "much better off and much more successful".

"I don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option," he said.

He skipped one line from his prepared text in his speech at the synagogue: "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual."

Paladino's campaign manager, Michael R Caputo, told The New York Times that the candidate is not anti-gay.

He said Paladino was "simply expressing the views that he holds in his heart as a Catholic".

"Carl Paladino is not homophobic, and neither is the Catholic Church," he said.

Church teaching holds that followers should refrain from discriminating against gays but that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered".

Asked whether his comments were appropriate given the violent anti-gay attacks, Paladino said he does not support violence against gays.

"Don't misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way. That would be a dastardly lie," he said. "My approach is live and let live."

‘Unfit for New York’

A Cuomo campaign spokesperson, Josh Vlasto, said Paladino's comments demonstrate "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," Vlasto said.

Paladino, who apologised for forwarding racist and sexist emails early on in his campaign to replace Democratic Governor David Paterson, was campaigning on Sunday through traditionally Jewish conservative neighbourhoods of Brooklyn, stopping at a rabbinical college in Borough Park, before eating lunch at Gottlieb's deli in Williamsburg and then ending his tour at the synagogue.

Recent polls have showed Cuomo with a big lead over Paladino in the governor's race.

Several minor-party candidates also are seeking to replace Paterson, who took office after former Governor Eliot Spitzer stepped down in a prostitution scandal but isn't seeking election to a full term.
 

- AP