Senator Barack Obama is being criticized for allowing a gospel singer with controversial views on homosexuality participate in his South Carolina campaign.

The New York Times reports that Donnie McClurkin has been recruited along with other gospel acts by the Obama campaign for a statewide tour that commences this week in Charleston.

McClurkin, described by the Times as a black preacher who sang at the Republican National Convention in 2004, allegedly believes that homosexuality is a choice and can be “cured” through prayer.

“I don't believe that it is the intention of God,” McClurkin told the Associated Press Monday in a telephone interview. “Sexuality, everything is a matter of choice.”

He added that he does not support discrimination against homosexual people. “What people do in their bedrooms and who they are as human beings are two different things,” he said.

The Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate has been criticized for his association with McClurkin, with gay rights activists arguing that Obama is willing to appeal to conservative blacks at the expense of gay people, reports the Times.

“We strongly urge Obama to part ways with this divisive preacher who is clearly singing a different tune than the stated message of the campaign,” Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, said in a statement.

The Associated Press reports that Obama has previously argued that civil unions for same-sex couples wouldn't be a “lesser thing” than marriage.

Obama said Monday in a statement: “I have consistently spoken directly to African-American religious leaders about the need to overcome the homophobia that persists in some parts our community so that we can confront issues like HIV/AIDS and broaden the reach of equal rights in this country.

“I strongly believe that African Americans and the LGBT community must stand together in the fight for equal rights. And so I strongly disagree with Reverend McClurkin's views and will continue to fight for these rights as president of the United States to ensure that America is a country that spreads tolerance instead of division.”

The statement did not say whether McClurkin would still perform on the tour.

The Times also notes that South Carolina is an early voting state where 50 percent of the Democratic primary voters are black and where at least one recent survey shows Obama is losing ground to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Surveys have reportedly also found that blacks are less supportive than whites are of legalizing gay relationships, the New York Times adds.