Texas Governor Rick Perry was speaking at the Commonwealth Club of California when he compared homosexuality to alcoholism in a speech that primarily focused on economic issues.
The Texas Republican Party adopted a platform supporting access for ‘reparative therapy’ to change sexual orientation, a practice that is widely scrutinized for its effectiveness and potential for harm. In response to a question on the matter, Perry stated that he wasn’t sure whether the therapy worked.
Interviewer Greg Dalton then asked the governor whether or not he thought homosexuality was a disorder.
“Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that,” Perry said in response.
“I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.”
His party’s stance on ‘reparative therapy’ is in opposition to legal rulings in California and New Jersey, where such therapy has been banned for licensed professionals to perform on minors.
