Justin Bieber: Still Weighing Gay Option?

I think Justin Bieber is a talented kid, I really do. Some of his tunes are ridiculously catchy (see for instance this week's Glee), and clearly he works hard at his craft.

But whoever thought it would be a good idea to have him expound in print on such hot potato topics as homosexuality, abortion, religion and politics did the boy a serious disservice.

Rolling Stone has a cover story and an online photo flipbook called "The Tao of Justin Bieber: Bieber's meditations on fame, drugs, sex and swag" that should make his parents and handlers want to cringe.

It's unfortunate really — and shouldn't reflect poorly on the 16-year-old Justin Bieber himself. I'm sure at that age most of us would flub the big moral questions as badly, or worse. But thank goodness for most of us, no one ever stuck a microphone in front of our teenage selves and asked us to expound.

Bieber's most controversial responses are on homosexuality and abortion. Also, his political views don't yet appear fully formed...

"I'm not sure about [Political] parties, but whatever they have in Korea, that's bad."

As for abortion, Bieber doesn't believe in it, and the way his response was worded initially it sounded as if he was a particularly hard line pro-lifer.....

"I really don't believe in abortion. I think [an embryo] is a human. It's like killing a baby. [In the case of rape]. I think that's really sad, but everything happens for a reason."

Obviously this quote has drawn a lot of attention, and this morning Rolling Stone made a revision and noted that "due to an editing error" Bieber's abortion response was an incomplete quote. Here's the follow-up portion that was added back in... 

"...I don't know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that."

Well, that sounds a bit better, I guess. 

As yet, no correction or "editing error" has surfaced regarding his views on homosexuality: 

"It's everyone's own decision to do that. It doesn't affect me and shouldn't affect anyone else."

Sigh. His take on the whole gay thing isn't mean-spirited in the least — just poorly thought through. I guess if I could, I'd ask the Biebs when and where he made the decision to be heterosexual. And whether he might change his mind at some point in his adult future.