(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource politics news analysis from Newsy.

It’s probably not the first song on his playlist -- but it turns out -- GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is something of a Lady Gaga fan.

YouTube: “What’s your favorite Lady Gaga song? ... I gotta say, even though she’s unusual, ‘Born This Way’ has got some appeal.”

But reading too much into his love of “Born This Way” might be premature. The former Minnesota governor was asked Sunday by NBC host David Greggory whether homosexuality was a choice. Here’s what he said:

PAWLENTY: “There’s no scientific conclusion that it’s genetic. We don’t know that. We don’t know to what extent it’s behavioral. It’s something that’s been debated by scientists for a long time. If I understand the science there is no current conclusion that it is genetic."

Progressive blog Think Progress disagrees, though.

“All major medical professional organizations agree that sexual orientation is not a choice and cannot be changed, from gay to straight or otherwise. … Pawlenty has previously said that ‘the science is bad’ on whether human activity has had any impact on global warming. When it comes to Pawlenty’s unfamiliarity with science, perhaps he was just ‘born this way.’”

But The Christian Post’s Stephanie Samuel suggests - Pawlenty should have never confused his message by bringing Lady Gaga in the mix -- and says in efforts to win over conservatives - he’d be better off sticking to his oft-professed campaign message of support for traditional marriage.

“...many Christians believe homosexuality is a choice. … Being tolerant of different politics may be a great way to win a general election, but it is a bad way to woo conservatives in a primary focused on finding a candidate that has completely different political views than Democrat President Barack Obama.”

Pawlenty went on to tell NBC that he hasn’t supported giving gay couples the same benefits as traditional couples in public employment. 

'Like' Newsy on Facebook for updates in your news feed.

Get more multisource video news analysis from Newsy

Transcript by Newsy