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LGBT Activist Confronts Ben Carson: ‘I Chose to Be Gay?’

The GOP candidate—who famously believes prison turns people gay—was confronted by an LGBT activist in Staten Island.

Though he appeared confident and chatty at a Tuesday night town hall in Staten Island, Ben Carson took a brief hit when an LGBT activist challenged him on his previous statements that homosexuality is a choice.

"Do you think I chose to be gay?" the unidentified activist asked Carson as he posed for photographs with supporters, in footage captured by ABC News.

Hesitating a bit, the retired neurosurgeon repeated the attendee's question: "Did you choose to be gay?"

“Yes, do you think I chose to be gay?” the activist, sporting a Pride Center of Staten Island T-shirt, asked again.

“That’s a long conversation,” Carson said twice, dismissively.

“I think you’re full of shit,” the questioner replied before walking away. “OK,” the candidate muttered back.

Carson has repeatedly taken heat from the LGBT community for his comments on homosexuality. In March, he told CNN that being gay is a choice, citing prisons as proof of such. A year earlier, shortly after he rose to prominence among conservatives, the doctor compared homosexuality to bestiality and condemned same-sex marriage.

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Andrew Kirell

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