Dr. Ben Carson: transgenderism is ‘absurd’

The transgender movement opposes “tolerance”

The neurosurgeon has come under fire today for a separate address to the Florida delegation at the Republican National Convention, in which he said changing one’s gender is as absurd as attempting to change ethnicity.

“For thousands of years, mankind has known what a man is and what a woman is, and now, all of a sudden we don’t know anymore,” he told delegates on Tuesday morning. “Now, is that the height of absurdity?”

“We have to be willing to call out people for this absolutely ridiculous stuff that they’re trying to put over on us, that they’re trying to put over on our children,” he said.

“Secular progressives” had tried to present the transgender political movement as part of the civil rights crusade, but “it's not a civil rights issue,” he said.

Polls have shown a majority of African-Americans reject equating LGBT concerns with the civil rights movement.

Dr. Carson defended his remarks in an interview with NBC’s Katie Couric last night.

Identifying with another gender “doesn’t change their genetics,” he said. “A leopard can’t change its spots,” he added, quoting the Book of Jeremiah.

While he believes transgender people deserve “equal rights,” he opposed granting them “extra rights” by amending civil rights laws.

“Nobody gets to redefine everything for everybody else and then make them comply to it,” he said. “That’s not tolerance.”