WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama said Thursday that he believed being gay or transsexual was not a lifestyle choice but was biologically dictated before birth.
As his administration is criticized by gay and lesbian rights groups over what they see as slow progress towards repealing a ban on gays serving openly in the military, Obama weighed in on sexuality at a youth town hall meeting.
"You know, I am not obviously -- I don't profess to be an expert. This is a layperson's opinion," Obama said.
"But I don't think it's a choice. I think that people are born with, you know, a certain makeup, and that we're all children of God," the president said, in answer to a question.
"We don't make determinations about who we love. And that's why I think that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is wrong."
The president's position is likely to anger some conservative, evangelical Christian groups, which argue homosexuality is a sin, and therefore involves choice.
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