Ken Buck the Republican senate nominee and Tea Party favorite, compared being gay to alcoholism on NBC’s Meet The Press. He believes that being gay is a choice with possible genetic factors contributing.  More from The Advocate:

According to MSNBC, during a debate on the program, host David Gregory asked Buck whether he believed that people choose to be gay, and the candidate said, “I do.”

“You can choose who your partner is,” added Buck. “I think that birth has an influence over it, like alcoholism and some other things, but I think that, basically, you have a choice.”

His Democratic opponent, Michael Bennet, immediately replied that the comments put Buck outside the mainstream view.

Later, according to MSNBC, Buck tried to clarify that he meant to say there was “some element of predisposition” to being gay. He denied that he was talking about being gay as a “disease.”

Buck holds a slight lead over Bennet in polls.

Tags: gay and alcoholism, Ken Buck, Meet the Press