Bowing to pressure from students, Dr. Ben Carson on Wednesday stepped down as commencement speaker at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the Baltimore Sun reported.
In a letter sent to Dr. Paul B. Rothman, dean of the medical school, Carson said his withdrawal from the ceremony “would be in the best interest of the students.”
“Given all the national media surrounding my statements as to my belief in traditional marriage, I believe it would be in the best interest of the students for me to voluntarily withdraw as your commencement speaker this year,” Carson, the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, wrote. He will also step down as the speaker for the diploma ceremony at the university’s school of education.
Anti-gay remarks made recently by Carson during an appearance on Fox News sparked a furor among Johns Hopkins students, who circulated a petition to have the renowned neurosurgeon replaced as commencement speaker.
“Marriage is between a man and a woman,” Carson told Fox’s Sean Hannity during the appearance. “No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn’t matter what they are — they don’t get to change the definition.”
Before making his decision official, Carson said last month that he was prepared to honor the wishes of those students and step down as graduation speaker. Last week, he apologized for those remarks after being rebuked by Rothman.
But prior to his apology, Carson had attributed the ensuing controversy over the remarks to “racist” white liberals. And in his letter to Rothman on Wednesday, Carson, who will retire from medicine this year, criticized the “emphasis on political correctness.”
“Someday in the future, it is my hope and prayer that the emphasis on political correctness will decrease and we will start emphasizing rational discussion of differences so we can actually resolve problems and chart a course that is inclusive of everyone,” Carson wrote in the letter.
