Ken Buck: Being Gay "Like Alcoholism"

BY Julie Bolcer

October 17 2010 7:20 PM ET

Ken Buck, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee and Tea Party favorite from Colorado, said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press that he believes being gay is a choice, but that, “like alcoholism,” sexual orientation may be affected by genetic factors.

According to MSNBC, during a debate on the program, host David Gregory asked Buck whether he believed that people choose to be gay, and the candidate said, “I do.”

“You can choose who your partner is,” added Buck. “I think that birth has an influence over it, like alcoholism and some other things, but I think that, basically, you have a choice.”

His Democratic opponent, Michael Bennet, immediately replied that the comments put Buck outside the mainstream view.

Later, according to MSNBC, Buck tried to clarify that he meant to say there was “some element of predisposition” to being gay. He denied that he was talking about being gay as a “disease.”

Buck holds a slight lead over Bennet in polls.