Ben Carson: Gays Might Find Poison in Wedding Cakes

Same-sex couples shouldn't demand wedding cakes from bakeries that don't want to serve them -- they might get poisoned, warns right-wing activist and potential presidential candidate Ben Carson.

The remark came when Carson answered a question about same-sex marriage Saturday at the Iowa Freedom Summit, a gathering of the far right, The Hill reports. "What I have a problem with is when people try to force people to act against their beliefs because they say 'They're discriminating against me,'" Carson said. "So they can go right down the street and buy a cake, but no, let's bring a suit against this person because I want them to make my cake even though they don't believe in it. Which is really not all that smart because they might put poison in that cake."

Carson's comment was met with "chuckles from some of his staff and dead silence from the journalists in the room," The Hill notes.

Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who became a darling of the right after giving a speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast. He is considering a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He recently told a conservative talk show host that Congress should "reprimand or remove" federal judges who rule for marriage equality.

The Freedom Summit, hosted in Des Moines by Iowa congressman Steve King and Citizens United (of Supreme Court decision fame), drew a plethora of other possible GOP presidential candidates, including Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Rick Santorum.