GOP presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson was confronted shortly after a town hall meeting in New York on Monday by a woman who asked if he thought being gay was a choice. (Video via Ben Carson For President 2016)
The woman asked, "Do you think I chose to be gay?"
Carson responded, "Did you choose to be gay?"
The woman said, "Yeah, did I choose to be gay?"
"That's a long conversation. That's a long conversation," Carson said.
"I think you're full of s***," the woman responded.
Carson was in Staten Island when the confrontation took place. The woman asked Carson the question and then walked away. (Video via Staten Island Advance)
While many presidential candidates are susceptible to these confrontations from the public on the campaign trail, this one shows how much trouble Carson might have getting the LGBT community's vote.
Carson has taken heat from the community ever since his comments about gay marriage on CNN last March.
"Do you think being gay is a choice?" CNN's Chris Cuomo asked.
Carson responded, "Absolutely."
Cuomo asked, "Why do you say that?"
"Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight and when they come out they're gay," Carson said.
He apologized shortly after the interview, saying, in part, "Up until this point there have been no definitive studies that people are born into a specific sexuality."
Carson and other GOP presidential hopefuls are just weeks away from the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1. Multiple polls project Carson to finish third or fourth in the state.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
