Ben Carson

Ben Carson talks with media in the hall after speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015.

(Carolyn Kaster | The Associated Press)

On the same day Ben Carson launched an exploratory committee to run for president in 2016, he also began making controversial comments that could follow him into the campaign.

In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and 2016 GOP hopeful, said that prison inmates provided proof that being gay is a choice.

"Absolutely," he said when Cuomo asked if he thought being gay was a choice, adding:

Carson said this "thwarts" the idea that being gay is not a choice, which is the prevailing opinion of the medical community. The American Psychological Association writes, "most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation."

Carson said that it was beside the point though, because what gay couples really want is the same rights that straight couples have. He said the word "marriage" need not apply.

"Why do gay people want to get married?" Carson asked Cuomo. "Because they want to have various rights -- property rights, visitation rights. Why can't any two human beings, I don't care what their sexual orientation is, why can't they have the legal right to do those things? That does not require changing the definition of marriage."

He said these rights and restrictions on same-sex marriage should be decided by individual states.

Carson is no stranger to controversial comments, particularly regarding his views on gay people and same-sex marriage. In 2013, he compared gay marriage to pedophilia and bestiality during an interview with Sean Hannity, Politico reported.

"It's a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality," he said at the time. "It doesn't matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition."

Outrage over the comments led him to withdraw from giving a commencement speech at Johns Hopkins University

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2014, he echoed that remark, saying "gay people should have the same rights as everyone else...But they don't get extra rights. They don't get to redefine marriage."

Carson formally launched his exploratory committee for the 2016 elections on Wednesday.

He gained political prominence after criticizing President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act in 2013, and comparing it to slavery and the Nazi government.

"I see myself as a member of 'we the people,'" he explained to The Associated Press in a past interview. "I see myself as a logical American who has common sense, and I think that's going to resonate with a lot of Americans, regardless of their political party or where they fit in that party."