Jaemark Tordecilla, InterAKTV · Wednesday, May 16, 2012 · 11:26 pm
Manny Pacquiao was misquoted.
It sounds like a trite excuse for any athlete, something we’ve heard a million times before, but in Pacquiao’s case, this time, it’s true.
The Filipino champion has found himself in hot water over an interview with blogger Granville Ampong in Examiner.com. The interview dealt with Pacquiao’s opposition to United States president Barack Obama’s professed support for gay marriage.
Opposition to gay marriage is a perfectly valid position depending on one’s personal beliefs — presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, Obama’s likely opponent in November’s US elections, already voiced his opposition to it.
What drew the ire of most of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual community, however, was Pacquiao’s quote of a Bible passage Leviticus 20:13 that promoted violence on members of their members, which read: “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.”
Because of that, LGBT groups are hitting Pacquiao where it would hurt most — his wallet. Gay Marriage USA has launched an online petition telling Nike to cease its sponsorship of Pacquiao. In its petition page, the group wrote: “Nike is a multi-billion dollar industry and LGBT people contribute billions to this company. It is completely unacceptable that such a high-profile company should be sponsoring a boxer who is encouraging violence towards LGBT people. Tell Nike to drop its sponsorship!”
Note that the group is taking issue not with Pacquiao’s opposition to gay marriage, but with his supposed encouragement of violence against members of the LGBT community.
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