New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson took a hit in the gay community at a Democratic forum focused on gay issues Thursday night when he said he believes being homosexual is “a choice.”
He immediately released a clarifying statement after the forum saying, “Let me be clear — I do not believe that sexual orientation or gender identity happen by choice … but I’m not a scientist, and the point I was trying to make is that no matter how it happens, we are all equal.”
In other news, Richardson unveiled both a health and education plan over the last few days.
He repeated his desire to scrap the No Child Left Behind law at a National Education Association of New Hampshire event Wednesday and rolled out his plan called “Making America’s Schools Work.” The plan includes raising teacher salaries, encouraging more parent involvement, fully funding head start programs and finding ways to improve child nutrition.
His universal health plan is aimed at providing health insurance for 45 million more Americans without raising taxes. One of the more unique elements is to allow people to purchase the same health insurance plan offered to members of Congress and the president.
Richardson planned to spend Friday fund raising in California, and then return to New Mexico on Monday, where he “spends about 40 percent of his time now”: http://www.examiner.com/a868707~Richardson_Hit_on_Campaign_Travel_Time.html, according to the Associated Press. He will spend the rest of the week campaigning in Iowa.
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