US ready to elect gay President: Jimmy Carter

The 39th US president Jimmy Carter predicts it will happen in `near future`.

New York: Former US president Jimmy Carter says America is ready to elect a gay president.

And the 39th president predicts it will happen in ``near future``.

"I think the entire population of America has come tremendous strides forward in dealing with the issue of gays," the New York Daily News quoted him as telling the website BigThink.com in a wide-ranging interview.

"And I would say that the answer is yes. I don`t know about the next election, but I think in the near future."

The Nobel Peace Prize winner likened the "issue of homosexuality" to "the race issue 50 years ago”.

"The country is getting acclimated to a President who might be female, who might obviously, now be black and who might be, as well, a gay person," Carter said.

ANI