“I disagree with him, and I don’t believe that’s an apt analogy and not one that should be made,” Christie said during a San Francisco campaign appearance alongside Neel Kashkari, the GOP candidate for California governor.

Christie, who is head of the Republican Governors Assn., declined, however, to speak for the organization and its members. “Every governor and public official has to speak for themselves on these issues,” Christie told reporters. “I just spoke myself.”

At a question-and-answer session Wednesday night in San Francisco, Perry reiterated his belief that homosexuality was a lifestyle choice.

“Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that,” Perry said. “I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that.”