Ben Carson Hasn’t Enacted Protections for LGBT Homeless People Because He Wants to ‘Protect the Rights of All the People’

‘It’s a Very Complex Issue’ Carson Claims

Asked why he hasn’t implemented protections for LGBT homeless people in the year since he’s been the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson told Democratic U.S. Senator Mike Quigley he wants to make sure he’s protecting the rights of “all the people” (video.)

Testifying Tuesday before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Secretary Carson was asked about the training materials used to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ homeless people that Carson had removed from HUD’s website.

Carson stonewalled, saying first “it’s a very complex issue,” then blaming not having a general counsel at HUD until December for not having reviewed the documents or reposting them on the federal agency’s website.

“Remember, it is complex,” he repeated. “Obviously we believe in equal rights for everybody, including the LGBT community. But we also believe in equal rights for the women in the shelters, and shelters where there are men, and their equal rights. So, we want to look at things that really provide for everybody and doesn’t impede the rights of one for the sake of the other.”

Senator Quigley was not impressed.

“How is protecting the rights of transgender homeless potentially impact -” he began to ask, until Carson cut him off.

“I’ll give you an example: There are some women who said they were not comfortable with the idea of being in a shelter, being in a shower, and somebody who had a very different anatomy.”

Carson then got a bit persnickety when the Illinois Democratic Senator pushed him on the lengthy of time these regulations have not been implemented, enforced, and made publicly available.

“I don’t think you would have wanted us to do this without a general counsel,” Carson told Quigley. “I would like to work with you on this and I would be particularly interested in your ideals on how we protect the rights of all the people involved.”

Quigley invited Carson to visit with LGBT people in his home state of Illinois.

WATCH: Ben Carson Mocks Transgender People As ‘Height of Absurdity’

Carson infamously in 2013 likened LGBT people to pedophiles. During his confirmation hearing last year, Secretary Carson told the Senate he would follow the law but he was opposed to LGBT people getting “extra rights,” which is how many right wing conservatives define LGBT protections.