New South Wales’ new Premier has expressed regret about previous comments he made to the press about homosexuality being a “lifestyle choice”.

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In an interview with Fairfax Media in 2012, Mike Baird said he failed to see how not passing marriage equality legislation in New South Wales would be detrimental to the LGBT community.

“I don’t in any way see that as a degradation or a reduction in rights for those who are choosing to live a homosexual lifestyle,” he said in the interview.

“But for me, marriage [is] a man and a woman and I think that preserving that, and the legacy and history of that, is important.”

Baird was last week promoted to the position of Premier of New South Wales after the resignation of Barry O’Farrell, and has told the Star Observer that he misspoke when he made the aforementioned comments regarding marriage equality and the LGBT community.

“I chose my words poorly when I referred to a lifestyle choice,” he said.

“I was merely trying to say that everybody should be free to be who they are.”

“I do not judge people on the basis of race, religion or sexuality,”

“I judge them by how they behave and what they contribute to the community and those around them.”

Baird previously acknowledged his 2012 comments in a statement made in April last year, at which time he said “While my conscience says marriage is for a man and a woman, I know many disagree and indeed the pain many feel on this issue.”

Baird was reportedly a keynote speaker at at the Christian Democratic Party’s annual conference during last year’s Federal Election, at which time he was photographed shaking hands with New South Wales Upper House MP Fred Nile. According to a CDC newsletter, he spoke at the event about his “Christian testimony and how God led him into the area of government and politics”.

Baird told Fairfax Media last weekend that he had no intention of imposing his religious perspectives on political decision-making, and reportedly believes that his faith will not be a political issue.