Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson answered "yes" when asked by an Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Wednesday if being gay is immoral. Thursday, Jeanne Atkins, Richardson's predecessor, released a statement saying Richardson's stance on being gay "calls into question" his ability to perform his job.

Richardson, a Mormon, was a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage during his dozen years in the Oregon Legislature. In 2007, he gave a speech from the House of Representatives floor saying that gay men are more likely abuse children -- a widely debunked statistic. Two years earlier, he characterized same-sex marriage as being different than "normal" marriage during a speech at the City Club of Portland.

Richardson, the first Republican to be elected Oregon's secretary of state in three decades, told OPB Wednesday that, in his view, the choice of the government or voters to allow same-sex marriage doesn't "change the definition with God." In his view and the view of his church, sexual relations outside of a marriage covenant between a man, a woman and God is a sin.

Richardson attempted to blunt his statement, saying his stance on being gay "doesn't change the humanity or the acceptance I have for people to make their own choices about such important and so personal of a nature." He added, "You cannot find a gay or lesbian person that I have treated without respect."

Atkins, who is now the chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Oregon, said Richardson's statements are "appalling" and may be harmful for LGBT youth.

"That the highest ranking Republican official in Oregon would call these populations 'immoral' is upsetting and harmful," Atkins said. Most Oregonians, she said, believe that a person's sexual orientation does not make them immoral.

Richardson has not released a response to Atkins. Her criticism of him comes a day after Richardson announced an unusual 12-day trade mission to China that will be funded in part by that country's local and national governments. Economic development officials said that arrangement is unusual, and a professor who studies government ethics said the financing of Richardson's trip presents an ethical problem.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

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