NY Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, under fire for making remarks criticized as anti-gay, said Monday that discrimination against homosexuals is “horrible” and that he did not regret his controversial remarks.
Paladino made the rounds on the network talk shows after his comments on homosexuality blew up over the weekend. He strongly denied being homophobic, saying that his only problem is with gay marriage.
The GOP candidate said on NBC that he currently employs homosexuals and would have no reservations about actively recruiting gays to serve in his administration.
On Sunday, in a speech to a gathering of Orthodox Jewish leaders, Paladino first criticized his Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo, for marching in a gay pride parade and went on to say: “I just think my children and your children would be better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family. And I don’t want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn’t.”
Paladino told NBC that he did not regret making those statements and reiterated that he was strongly opposed to taking kids to a gay pride parade.
“Young children should not be exposed to that at a young age. They don’t understand. It’s a very difficult thing,” Paladino said. “And exposing them to homosexuality, especially at a gay-pride parade — and I don’t know if you’ve ever been to one — but they wear these little Speedos and they grind against each other, and it’s just a terrible thing.”
Paladino also talked about a homosexual relative.
“My nephew is a wonderful boy and he’s gay,” he said on ABC’s Good Morning America. “And I see the difficulty he suffers every day with discriminatory people.”