Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Piers Morgan Square Off on Homosexuality (Video)

2:20 PM PDT 9/24/2012 by Jordan Zakarin

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The Iranian president and CNN host debate a host of topics, including a heated discussion about Ahmadinejad's opposition to gay rights.

Ahmadinejad with Piers Morgan Interveiw - H 2012

CNN

In New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sat down for an interview over the weekend with CNN's Piers Morgan. As the host predicted over Twitter, the pair butted heads several times, including over Iran's severe anti-gay policies.

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"Wouldn’t it be great for the president of Iran to say, ‘You know something? Everyone is entitled to whatever sexuality they are born to be,’ ” Morgan asked a stone-faced Ahmadinejad.

Needless to say, the West's main antagonist was less than enthusiastic about the proposal.

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"Do you really believe that someone is born homosexual?" he asked, to which Morgan stated, emphatically, that he did indeed believe that. "Do you believe that anyone is given birth through homosexuality? Homosexuality ceases procreation. Who has said that if you like or believe in doing something ugly, and others don’t accept your behavior they are denying your freedom?"

Morgan persisted with the line of questioning, asking Ahmadinejad how he'd react if he found that one of his three children happened to be gay. The leader dodged that one, insisting that homosexuality was a result of a faulty society that needs its education and social mores re-evaluated.

Presumably, he would offer up Iran as a prime example of the model society; in 2007, he insisted that his country was gay-free.

"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like you do in your country," he said during a speech at Columbia University. "In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have!"

In Iran, homosexual acts are met with punishments ranging in harshness from 100 whip lashes to capital punishment.

The interview will air 9 p.m. Monday on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight.