Palin: Being Gay Is a 'Choice'

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 3:03 PM on October 1, 2008.

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.

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.