Ben Carson Says He Would Consider Banning Gays In Military, Decide On ‘Evidence’ (Video)

New Campaign Manager Says Gays In The Military Are ‘Degrading’ America’s Physical And Moral Readiness

Ben Carson says he would look at the “evidence” before making a decision on whether or not to ban gays from the military and to roll back new regulations that remove all barriers from allowing women in combat. The former GOP presidential campaign frontrunner who now is polling at about 9 percent nationally and in the all-important Iowa, ranking fourth, just promoted a top advisor, Army Major General Robert F. Dees (Ret.), to be his new campaign manager and chairman.

CNN reports Carson is “willing to rollback roles of women, gays in military.” The pair sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper Monday, with Dees decrying “social engineering” in the military and saying there are some jobs not everyone can do.

(See video above, relevant section begins at the 5:00 mark, but the entire video is worth watching.)

“Everyone is not good at everything,” Dees said. “We have tried experiments within the military, such as the role of women in combat.” The retired Army Maj. Gen., whose resume does not show he served in combat, said “most” women could not carry a 230 pound soldier off the battlefield. 

“There are just certain realities where men can do certain things better, women can do certain things better,” Dees said. “We don’t need to throw everybody into every position as an experiment just because we’re trying to be appear to be fair to everyone.”

RELATED: Ben Carson’s New Manager Is An Anti-Gay Religious Warrior Fighting To Build A More Christian America

Dees also suggested, contrary to all studies, and now years of actual experience, that gays in the military negatively affect unit “cohesion,” a false claim used for decades by the anti-gay right.

“The first priority again is cohesion, and the second priority would be that the commander-in-chief listen to the best military advice,” Dees said.

“The administration,” he falsely stated of Obama’s push to repeal DADT, “has said, ‘Do this, do this, do this,’ apart from military and defense considerations.”

When “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was being re-examined, every single top military branch leader supported its repeal, and every reputable study also showed repealing it would actually improve the military’s performance. After repeal, studies showed only one serviceman left the military as a result.

Carson did not speak to Dees’ claims, but has a long history of espousing anti-gay beliefs. Early in his presidential campaign, Carson compared gays to pedophiles. He also has claimed that prison provs being gay is a choice, and called homosexuality an “abomination.”

But he did tell Tapper that he would consider reinstating a ban on gays in the military and banning women from combat roles, claiming he would examine “evidence,” presumably provided by Dees, who served in the military for over three decades.

“One of the things that I learned in a long medical career is that you make decisions based on evidence, and not on ideology. So yes, I would be willing to sit down with people from both sides and examine the evidence and make decisions based on what the evidence shows,” Carson said.

The evidence has been studied for decades, and there is only one realistic decision. It’s unclear if a President Ben Carson would make the right one.

 

Image: Screenshot via CNN