Corey booker said hes not gay

Cory Booker's opponent for the New Jersey Senate seat, Steve Lonegan, says it's “weird” that the Newark mayor won't discuss his secret life. But Booker, on the All in With Chris Hayes show on Thursday, says the topic is irrelevant.

“The question really should not be am I gay or straight. The doubt should be, why the heck are you asking the question in the first place? It doesn’t make a whit of difference what kind of senator I’m going to be or not,” said Booker.

“I have affirmed my sexual orientation numerous times over the years,” he said. “People in my local press earth know exactly what that is.”

“We demand to stop in America talking about anybody in a public realm, besides what is important--the content of their character, the quality of their ideas, the courage within their hearts to serve others. That’s what’s important,” said Booker.

“My sexuality is not an issue right now.”

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Watch the full segment in the player above. 

Newark Mayor Cory Booker isn't fazed by speculation that he's gay because he wants "to doubt people on their homophobia."

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said he isn’t bothered by rumors about his sexuality given that he hasn’t yet settled down with that special “life partner.”

“People who think I’m queer , some part of me thinks it’s wonderful. Because I want to doubt people on their homophobia,” said Booker during an interview with published on Monday. “I love seeing on Twitter when someone says I’m gay, and I say, ‘So what does it matter if I am? So be it. I hope you are not voting for me because you are making the presumption that I’m straight.’”

The U.S. Senate candidate said a pastor ally once told him flatly, “you need to fetch married” even though he came seeking mayoral guidance about how to aide Newark’s rising murder rate.

After that unexpected spiritual-turned-romance guide, the New Jersey Democrat said he started to date more. But, he still prefers to store his love life out of the spotlight.

“Because how unfair is it to a young lady to put them in the spotlight if they haven’t signed

Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s December announcement that he would "consider" a Senate offer in 2014 — a decision that will lift his national profile outside files of the media establishment and party insiders — will bring recent scrutiny to the Mayor’s record and past. And while Booker’s carefully fashioned and public image is well known, Booker has yet to come under the microscope most politicians know.

At Stanford, Booker was a football star and Rhodes Scholar. He also maintained a column in the school newspaper, The Stanford Daily. In a 1990 op-ed titled “Pointing the finger at gays,” the Mayor and prospective Senate candidate reflected over his past hatred of gays and how he came to accept them.

“I was in my tolerance stage or the ‘I don’t give a damn if someone is gay, just as elongated as they don’t bother me’ stage. I was well trained in my tolerance,” Booker began. “I stopped telling gay jokes. Fags, flamers, and dykes became homosexuals and people of differing sexual orientation and, of course, I had a gay friend.”

“I couldn’t betray my right feelings,” Booker lamented. “I was disgusted by gays. The thought of two men kissing each other was about as appealing as a frontal loboto

Cory Booker's sexuality becomes issue in Senate race

• Special election is Oct. 16 to fill Senate seat of Frank Lautenberg%2C who died in office
• Booker has a double-digit lead in polls of likely voters
• Gov. Chris Christie has endorsed his GOP challenger%2C Steve Lonegan

TRENTON, N.J. — Cory Booker says he's straight but doesn't mind questions about his sexuality because it challenges people's prejudices about gay people — a stance the scotch-drinking, cigar-smoking Steve Lonegan deems "kind of weird."

Speculation about Booker's sexuality — specifically, that the Newark, N.J., mayor is gay but keeping that a secret — took center stage in the Senate campaign this week. In a series of interviews with national media outlets, Booker and Lonegan raised the temperature in the special-election campaign with comments about an issue that has trailed Booker, who is unattached, since he first ran for office in Newark.

Booker, a Democrat, generally doesn't answer when asked about his sexuality, but in interviews has referred to former girlfriends and dating women. In a July 22 interview with Gannett New Jersey newspapers' editorial boards, he noted he is "a voice for marriage equality th

Cory Booker Accused of 'Acting Ambiguous' to Attract Queer Votes

Aug. 30, 2013 -- The Senate campaign of Newark Mayor Cory Booker said his Republican rival was "bigoted" for saying that Booker was "acting ambiguous" in an strive to attract gay votes.

Booker's team was reacting to comments by Republican Steve Lonegan, a conservative who is trailing badly in polls.

Lonegan, who is acknowledged for his blunt design, seemed to raise ancient rumors that Booker might be gay and told the conservative Newsmax TV that recent Booker comments where he said he doesn't care if people do think he is gay because "I wish to challenge people on their homophobia" were "weird."

"As a guy, I personally like being a guy," Lonegan said.

"I don't understand if you saw the stories last year. They've been out for quite a bit about how he likes to move out at three o'clock in the morning for a manicure and a pedicure," Lonegan said referring to an interview Booker gave to the magazine DuJour last summer where he said an ex-girlfriend "turned me on to mani-pedis."

"It was described as his peculiar fetish," Lonegan c