Freshman Representative James Lankford said in a recent interview that laws banning discrimination for sexual orientation should not be passed because of his belief that being gay is a “choice.” according to ThinkProgress .
Lankford said in an interview (video below),
“Race and sexual preferences are two different things. One is a behavior-related and preference-related and one is something inherently — skin color, something obvious, that kind of stuff. You don’t walk up to someone on the street and look at them and say, ‘Gay or straight? I think it’s a choice issue. Are tendencies and such? Yes. But I think it’s a choice issue.”
President Barack Obama recently said in an interview that he personally finds nothing wrong with two people of the same sex getting married. His statement was in response to North Carolina passing a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman. The State will no longer recognize any other type of union.
The President’s declaration has caused many States to take up the issue of gay rights and address the issue of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent reported that a bipartisan group of senators renewed calls for hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The act would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Both major political parties are drawing lines in the sand on the issue of Gay rights. Lankford isn’t the only GOP Representative who opposes these type of laws. Last week, Florida Representative Allen West said it was unnecessary to pass laws to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation because that type of discrimination doesn’t exist.
West told ThinkProgress,
“That don’t happen out here in the United States of America,”
Watch the interview where Representative James Lankord opposes bills that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
