Republican Carl Paladino, a candidate for New York governor, apologized for comments he made “that may have offended the gay and lesbian community.”
“Any reference to branding an entire community based on a small representation of them is wrong,” Paladino, 64, said today in an e-mailed statement. “I ask you for forgiveness on my poorly chosen words,” the Buffalo property developer said.
“I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don’t want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option -- it isn’t,” Paladino said in an Oct. 10 speech to orthodox Jews, according to the New York Times. Yesterday, he said that while he supported equal rights he doesn’t believe that children should be exposed to events such as gay-pride parades.
“They wear these little Speedos and they grind against each other and it’s just a terrible thing,” Paladino said yesterday on NBC’s “Today” show, according to a transcript. “Why would you bring your children to that?”
Paladino, a Tea Party supporter, has seen his opponent, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, 52, widen a lead in surveys heading up to the Nov. 2 vote.
A Quinnipiac University poll last week showed Paladino trailing Cuomo, the state attorney general, by 18 percentage points. Likely voters supported the Democrat 55 percent to Paladino’s 37 percent. In a Sept. 22 survey, Cuomo led 49 percent to 43 percent.
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