No wonder McCain has started appearing with her in public where she might have to talk to other than Repub sycophants. We should start a piggy bank to buy McCain a nice designer leash …and muzzle.

What about the choice to have a baby when a woman is over 40 where medical data finds there is an 8 in 1 chance that the baby will have downs syndrome? 92 percent of pregnant mothers having a test in the first trimester that indicates a fetus has downs syndrome are advised by doctors to have an abortion. I am not judging, just saying she is in no position to point fingers.

Correction: I meant 1 out of 8.

It's not a fucking choice! How much louder do we have to say that!? I'm gay; I didn't decide to be attracted to other guys - it just happened. Simple as that. Why do social conservatives refuse to accept our perspective on this; considering, you know, we're the ones that are actually gay and one would think we therefore know more about it.

Sarah Palin has officially joined the grouping of the dumbest shits in the entire country; those who believe that homosexuality is a choice. If her lesbian friend actually existed (which she doesn't), she would have told Ms. Palin that it wasn't her choice a long time ago.

At least most other neocons don't try to pretend that they're not judging gay people. Sarah Palin, you make me sick to my stomach!

Apparently, I have made a "choice" to not vote for an ignorant "Hackey Mam!" to be next in line for what could be the oldest person running for president.

Whatever. At least, as we've learned, McCain will hire an openly gay man. Don't know if Obama has or not. But it really should be the economy that decides who we vote for. Right now I'm totally fuming at ACORN and Obama and Barney Frank, Freddie M., Fannie M., etc., and a number of Republicans are to blame as well.

I just spoke with my 77 year old grandmother, a big feminist and Hilary supporter.

She told me this Sarah Palin woman is "just awful" and she and her friend have being saying that from the moment Palin was nominated.

Grandma knows!

More and more proof that she's a complete airhead moron. Such as. If I was her lesbian friend I wouldn't be anymore because Sarah Palin is an ignorant slut.

Slippery Sarah speaking with forked tongue!

Hmmm.

I hate to be a non-Demopublican arbiter of neutrality again, but there wasn't a tempest of outrage when (Democrat) Bill Richardson made the same point in a debate.

My personal take: of course Palin is wrong (and not too bright).

But the manufactured outrage by Demopublicans is a bit rich. Who cares what the view of a politician on the genesis of sexual orientation is?

Can't we focus on the records?

Oh yeah, we can't. After all, the Republicrat is dim, but the Demopublican Mr. Biden was an outspoken advocate (and voter) for the anti-gay DOMA and DADT.

Want to get outraged? Get outraged over policy and bad votes. They actually have a real impact on real people — unlike the dim-witted utterances of photogenic Republicrats.

Thanks for adding a breath of sanity and fairness to this blog, Brian Miller. Or at least trying. (I think on Queerty it's a waste of time).

OK im gay but im a hot gay and unfortunately, most gay guys are fugly.

srsly, whenever i look in the pride magazine of scene pics, every single one of the guys has a face only a mother could love. perhaps you guys made a choice to be gay without even knowing it - cuz a female would never have sex with you.

No. 12/MEN-SAR….are you for realz? That is one of the most pathetic comments I've read anywhere. Look in the mirror….what do you see? Yep. A pathetic loser. Go to anncoulter.com. You'll find plenty of company there.

I bet her lesbian "friend" secretly hates her and is only being polite.

Sarah Palin is an ignorant, low-IQ cunt. Fuck her and the moose she rode in on!

During the 50 or so years when homosexuality was classified as a "mental disorder," a large body of medical literature accumulated establishing that being gay is not a choice and (especially in men) is immutable; and it is not "pathological" (there is no testable, discernible difference in the quality of the mental capacity of gays and straights). Based on all of the evidence, the mental health community declassified homosexuality as a disorder 35 years ago. It is just ignorant for any public official today to claim that being gay is just a bad "choice." But ignorance seems to be her calling card.

Isn't it nice..a 2008 version of Anita Bryant..yippie!

I'll choose not to be gay if Mrs. Palin will choose to go back to Alaska and stay there.

AY YAY! I can't stand this woman but while she thinks homosexuality is a choice she still says that her friend is a "friend" rather than a "gay friend" and have to give her props for that. Did I just say that?

The only "choice" I made was to accept and admit the fact I am gay. I chose to come out and not have sex in public bathroom in airports. THAT is the choice I made.

This judging thing is a two way street and so i find collective "judging" throughout the comments here to be somewhat hypocritical. This answer was probably one of the best ways Palin could have put her views - and she said it in a somewhat coherent manner, trying to come across as least radical as possible - and in light of her past incoherency in recent interviews, I have to give the lady her props for execution on such a question. Like the rest here, I completely disagree with her viewpoints on homosexuality, but at the same time realize that a lot of people share her view (especially the religious right) - and name-calling is not an effective way to helping them move towards a more moderate position.

"At least, as we've learned, McCain will hire an openly gay man. Don't know if Obama has or not."

Who do you think is running Obama's gay outreach, "Obama Pride"? My guess is: gay people! George W. Bush hired openly gay people, too, and that certainly didn't make him any more gay friendly, did it?

I can tell by your idiotic blaming of the financial crisis on ACORN and Obama that you are a typical, Michelle Malkin-style, egregiously ignorant conservative. Good luck with that.

"Probably some submissive chick who likes the abuse."
Really? And your commenting on someone else's judgements…(which I also think are abhorrent)

MEN-SAR, how fucking dare you? You canceited ASSHOLE! I would like to see your face one day when you wake up and you're 40 years old, and realize that your face has seen better days. You will be singing a different tune, out your asshole.

I know this has nothing to do with the article, but i would like to apologize to MEN-SAR for the comment i made about his post. I should have simply said that good looks are fleeting. The sun and the calendar makes sure of that.

There are a couple of good things Sarah Palin has done: 1. picking her has proven once and for all how terrible John McCain is at making choices and 2. picking her is going to help lose the Republican's the election.
VOTE, BE HEARD!

Jamie (No 22), There's a big difference in the judging that we do of sarah palin, and the judging that she and her kind do to the LGBT community. We, as a nation, have gotten to know sarah palin, if only a little bit, and we all know she's a dumb fuck. Her coherent execution of her reply doesn't change the fact that the reply itself shows that she's completely ignorant.
And unfortunately, for people like her, NOTHING short of their god slapping them across the face and screaming "WTF were you thinking," is going to change their minds. That hate is so ingrained in them at this point, that the only thing we CAN do is riducle them in order to show the insanity and humor in their assertions. Maybe one day they'll see how foolish they really look…but I doubt it.

I'd like to go on record and say that I CHOSE to be gay.. It's a much more glamourous lifestyle, what with all the clothing option bed and breakfasts and those colorful rainbow beads! Sarah Palin is a douchebag.

"I hate to be a non-Demopublican arbiter of neutrality again, but there wasn't a tempest of outrage when (Democrat) Bill Richardson made the same point in a debate."

Attention Brian Miller. That remark is just blatantly incorrect. Gov. Richardson's remark just about brought his campaign to a dead end as I and thousands of other GLBT people withdrew our support and volunteer services. Blatant ignorance on this subject was a deal breaker for him just as it is for Gov. Palin.

As for her gay friend who is a friend first and gay secondarily who she doesn't judge for making a choice to be gay - well what kind of friend ardently supports legislation that denies their friends of long standing equal civil rights? As the old saying goes, "With friends like that who needs enemies?"

Let me clarify the logic of the conservative nutjobs for you guys. I'm not one myself but, having been educated (regrettably) in a Catholic system as a child, I know the ins and outs pretty well.

Conservo peeps KNOW homosexuality is not a choice. They know someone - ANYONE - is prone to have homosexual 'tendencies.' The "It's a Choice" phrase refers not to homosexuality per se, but to one's decision to ACT ON these tendencies. The Catholic Church knows this (according to the Catechism), which is why it accepts homosexuals AS LONG AS they are celibate and never engage in gay sex.

Here's the logic: every guy has the ability to slip a penis into a pussy; and each woman has the ability to sit on a dick. This is the 'natural' sex because it leads, ideally, to a baby and uses the reproductive organs for what they were made for. Got that? Good!

Similarly, gay men CAN marry women (gay or otherwise), and lesbians CAN marry men (gay or otherwise) to produce 'wonderful' environments where the baby will grow with lots of love and good Christian values. Because, as we all know: marriage (and, by extension, a heterosexual couple) naturally leads to a good, happy family.

Well, according to this logic, there is no GOOD reason or excuse for gay men to fuck other men, and ladies to fuck other ladies. What should gays and lesbians do, then? They SHOULD repress their homosexual tendencies and pursue the better / more holy path to a straight relationship, a marriage, and a shitload of babies.

Therefore: Gays and lesbians who engage in gay sex are weak/imoral people because they are unable to control their homosexual tendencies.

Also, they are selfish because they engage in sex to ONLY get themselves off and satisfy their desires and pleasures.

Because their gay sex fails to produce babies, they are meanies because they deny children (a.k.a unborn babies) the ability to be conceived.

Not only that, they also waste the reproductive juices that allow for babies to be created. Semen in a guy's ass won't make a baby, nor will the mixing of the period blood of two women.

Not to mention that rubbing two pussies together and slipping a dick into an ass is absolutely unnatural and totally disgusting.

THEREFORE: Gay people are weak, immoral, disgusting, selfish, sex-hungry, immature, and vile people. In short, they are pure evil. Hiss! Boo!

Sure, what I described above is a really fucked up fantasy-world that doesn't work for everyone. But, well, it makes perfect sense to a conservative nutjob like Palin.

Don't vote for her.

WOW smokey, that's a good point.. Although I have, of course, heard the 'choice' is really in the acting on the urges, I believe this nutjob actually might believe people choose to have the urges, somhow. Thanks for you, ahem, graphic clarification!

Why do most of the gays here get so angry because of her PERSONAL opinion? I honestly think she has the right attitude. She is not gay herself, so how the hell does she know if it’s a choice or not. The reason, for why we here in Europe are centuries ahead on gay rights compared to the US, is because most Europeans think the same way. They really don’t care or judge another person’s life especially when it doesn’t affect their own. I see nothing wrong in what she said. The real question someone needs to ask her is, “What are the policies that she would implement or change pertaining to gay rights?” No one has asked her that lately, only what her personal opinion about homosexuals is.

You really have a lot more plausible possibilities if you were to attack her on Foreign policy, Russia, heath care and probably everything else she says.

No problem, Retro.

Telling things 'like it is' is my speciality. I don't beat around the bush.

"No one has asked her that lately, only what her personal opinion about homosexuals is."

Candidates don't like to give honest answers about policies they will enact, particularly those that might limit the rights of potential supporters. Hence, we have to extrapolate based on their character. No candidate is ideal, but those who think that it is a choice (in any context) ae particularly dangerous.

And besides…she is incapable of answering any questions about policy, so it would be a waste of breath anyways.

Brian Miller: you are just not to bright yourself , contending that whethe Homosexuality is a choice or not is irrelivant.
The only way it would be irrelivant is if we assert also that heterosexuality is likewise a choice in the same way, making the issue irrelivant. As it is Fundie women believe that the pussy option is the one we would really prefer and that picking men is just an act of anarchy.

Clearly you lack any capacity for abstract thought. Try going to school.

The Palin apologists on here are astounding — and sickening. This airheaded, hate-filled bimbo needs to be sent back to the tundra where she can see Russia from her house — ASAP!

Not that I'm an apologist for caribou Barbie, but she has hired a gay dude.

Seriously, conservatives like her and MiCain have hired more prominent gays and lesbians than the G and L crowd have hired transfolks. And when they do, its usually the FtM guys.

So, maybe their is some work to do at home first? Hmmm?

Freedom from hatred and bigotry begin at home, folks.

Lyssa, stop being a troll and start getting us valid numbers. Go read a report or two, post the findings on here, and then we can see if you have a valid argument that merits any counter-points.

Off you go, now.

Yeah I just woke up one day and thought: "I Know, I'll be gay, won't that be a blast!"

A mathematical model devised by UCLA scientists shows that a new wave of drug-resistant HIV is rising among men who have sex with other men, and that this trend will continue over the next few years.

This amplification model can now be used to design novel and effective health policies for controlling resistant strains of HIV.

medical report.

Haha, someone mentioned how gay sex is selfish because your wasting "reproductive juices" - Ever heard of Birth control pills and other forms of contraception. Whats the difference ?

There is no difference to the Church. That's why they're against contraception and birth control pills, too.

How can a person Choose to be what he is?
A choice is this: I choose to go out tonight. Sexuality aint a choice. Hum, I choose to by gay today, tomorrow, I will choose to be straight. Think People. How can one choose his sexuality????

*sigh* If you were to have actually read the posts above, the logic is outlined pretty clearly for you.

HOMOSEXUALITY is not the choice — that's innate, and. What is the choice is one's will to not suppress these ("evil") tendencies, and to follow through with one's desires. Thus the choice to engage in gay sex and to shun marriage / monogamy / a nuclear family is what's at stake here.

That's why Palin says that her friend made a choice that SHE wouldn't have chosen for herself. That is, to not get married and have children (the "right" thing to do), but to live a gay "lifestyle" centred around one's sex and sexuality (the "selfish" and "wrong" thing to do).

"There is no difference to the Church. That's why they're against contraception and birth control pills, too."
So what's up with monks? or those too old to have children?