by Thaddeus Baklinski
MANILA, Philippines, May 17, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - World boxing superstar and Philippines congressman Manny Pacquiao has stated his opposition to Barack Obama’s endorsement of same-sex “marriage” and received a black eye for his trouble.
During a May 12 interview with the National Conservative Examiner Pacquiao said the Bible is clear on homosexual activity and that with regard to marriage we must follow “God’s words first ... obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man.”
“God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other,” he said.
In the written account of the interview, however, Granville Ampong of the Examiner quoted a passage from Leviticus in the Old Testament that condemns homosexual sex acts.
“Pacquiao’s directive for Obama calls societies to fear God and not to promote sin, inclusive of same-sex marriage and cohabitation, notwithstanding what Leviticus 20:13 has been pointing all along: ‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads’,” Ampong wrote.
In an ensuing firestorm Pacquiao was dis-invited from a scheduled appearance on the U.S. entertainment news show “Extra” on May 17 to be taped at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles, according to the Manila Bulletin.
Grove VP of corporate affairs Bill Reich issued a statement to LA Weekly on May 15, saying that Pacquiao “is not welcome at The Grove” and will not be interviewed there, because The Grove “is a gathering place for all Angelenos and not a place for intolerance.”
While Pacquiao is standing by his statements to the Examiner, he has objected that his remarks were taken out of context and that he never cited Leviticus or stated that anyone in the homosexual community deserved death.
“I didn’t say that, that’s a lie… I didn’t know that quote from Leviticus because I haven’t read the Book of Leviticus yet,” he said.
A statement on Pacquiao’s website says, “Manny Pacquiao has never stated that anyone in the Gay Community deserved death. His statements were taken out of context, and were not his opinion. Pacquiao is simply against the marriage of anyone that is not Man and Woman as he believes is stated in the Bible. Pacquiao does not now and has never believed that people deserve death because of their sexual orientation.”
Other mainstream media jumped onto the bandwagon to chastise Pacquiao for his stand for true marriage, with articles such as Dennis Romero’s “Manny Pacquiao Says Gay Men Should Be ‘Put to Death” in LA Weekly, and Tom Weir’s “Manny Pacquiao challenges Obama on same-sex marriage” in USA Today. Both publications have since retracted or corrected their articles.
Meanwhile, Granville Ampong, the writer of the original article in the Examiner, is in damage-control mode, publishing an article titled “Biased writers grossly twisted Pacquiao’s view on same-sex marriage” where he states, “nowhere in my supposition and integration of my interview with Pacquiao did I mention that Pacquiao recited this Leviticus 20:13 nor did I imply that Pacquiao had quoted such.” He concludes with an apology “for the confusion my column has caused. I certainly do not represent Pacquiao nor his team. It’s just Pacquiao’s view and my column will always be unacceptable to a liberal world …”
Manny Pacquiao is well-known not only as a world boxing icon, being an eight-division world champion and the first boxer in history to win 10 world titles, but, as a Philippines congressman, for his fight against the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill, and legislation proposing legalization of divorce in the Philippines.
Pacquiao has said corruption is a bigger problem than overpopulation in the Philippines, and that lawmakers should concentrate on creating laws that will fight poverty instead of promoting the use of contraceptives.
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