When the 89 year old former US President was addressing the Michigan's Grand Rapids Community College, he was asked about gay rights. Respond the only know US President to teach in a Southern Baptist Sunday, he answered:

"I think discrimination against anyone and depriving them of actual equal rights in the United States is a violation of the basic principles of the Constitution that all of us revere in this country," the president said.

Mr. Carter likened discrimination based on sexual orientation to prejudice against a person's skin color, economic class, and "whether they're living in a foreign country or our country."

In a CNN television interview, Mr. Carter said he thinks gay marriage should be allowed everywhere, but that preachers who did not believe it in should not be forced to perform same sex weddings.

NOTE FROM RON: For the record, which Mr. Carter probably knows, no preacher is ever forced to go against his faith to perform a marriage ceremony, no matter how petty the reason. State officials qualified to perform civil marriage must follow state law. In marriage, baptizing, and accepting people as members, churches are like private clubs and can turn down anyone on a whim.