OTTAWA — The top contenders in the Conservative leadership race have uniformly denounced inflammatory comments about gay people made in a TV interview by Richard Décarie, a social conservative planning to enter the leadership race.

Décarie told a CTV interviewer on Wednesday that he believes being gay is a “choice” and that he opposes same-sex marriage and government funding of abortion services. The comments were quickly condemned as “ridiculous” and “ignorant” by other candidates, as well as many Conservatives who support gay rights and feel the party has long moved on from such debates.

Conservative leadership contestants often have to carefully navigate issues such as abortion and gay rights, given that social conservatives are a substantial voting bloc. But the blunt language from Décarie — who has backing from experienced organizers, including much of Brad Trost’s campaign team from 2017 —  prompted the strong response from other campaigns.

“I think LGBTQ is a Liberal term, I don’t talk about people that way,” Décarie said in the interview. “I talk about persons, and I think we all need full respect for being a human being, simply.”

Asked by interviewer Evan Solomon to clarify if being gay is a choice, Décarie continued: “I think it’s a choice. How people are behaving is one thing, I think government has a responsibility to encourage the traditional values that we have had for the past years. That’s the kind of so-con issues that I would bring as leader.”

Mike Patton, spokesperson for the Décarie campaign, said on Thursday that no clarification or apology for the remarks is necessary. “That’s what he believes,” Patton said. He said Décarie is continuing to collect signatures to formally enter the leadership race, but didn’t know how soon that might happen. (Candidates need 1,000 signatures from party members and $25,000 by Feb. 27 to enter the race.)

Décarie’s comments quickly sparked outrage, including statements posted on Twitter from the three leadership candidates widely regarded as frontrunners.

“Being gay is not a choice and nobody should be running for office on a platform to roll back hard-won rights,” wrote Peter MacKay.

“This statement is ridiculous,” wrote Erin O’Toole. “The Conservative Party of Canada is open to ALL Canadians. Our membership made it clear when we voted to recognize same-sex marriage.”

“The comments are as unacceptable as they are ignorant,” wrote Pierre Poilievre. “You do not speak for Conservatives — or for Canadians. Being gay is NOT a choice. Being ignorant is.”

Other candidates also slammed Décarie’s views. “I have been clear: I will stand up for the rights and freedoms of every Canadian,” wrote Marilyn Gladu, calling the comments “unacceptable.” Rick Peterson wrote that “fully supporting Canada’s LGBTQ community is nothing new” for him and that he would do so as Conservative leader.

Many other Tories chimed in on Twitter. “I vehemently reject this message,” wrote Michelle Rempel Garner. “I will not serve under someone whose leadership pitch is that someone’s sexuality is something to be ‘fixed’. I am full on tired of this type of s**t defining the conservative movement in Canada.”

The Conservative Party formally ended its opposition to same-sex marriage in 2016 when delegates at a policy convention voted overwhelmingly to remove the definition of traditional marriage from the party’s policy book.

Brad Trost, who plans to chair Décarie’s campaign, finished fourth out of 14 candidates in 2017 despite also generating controversy over remarks about gay people. Trost had sent out a fundraising email promising to never take part in gay pride parades, and later told an interviewer that he defined “the gay lifestyle” as “gay people having gay sex,” and said it is not something he feels is “moral.”

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