Manny Pacquiao defends comments about same-sex marriage

Manny Pacquiao has denied condemning homosexuality when he made comments against same-sex marriage.

The Filipino boxer, who has become a Bible preacher, said he was merely voicing his opinion against homosexual union.

“I only gave out my opinion that same sex marriage is against the law of God,” he told ABS-CBN’s Dyan Castillejo.

And Pacquiao also said that he was not against homosexuals, adding that he has gay relatives. What he opposes, he said, were acts that violate the Holy Scripture.

Pacquiao said: “I’m not against gay people… I have a relative who is also gay. We can’t help it if they were born that way. What I’m critical off are actions that violate the word of God.”

According to media in the US, Pacquiao also refuted reports that he quoted a verse in the Book of Leviticus, which talked of putting homosexuals to death.

He denied citing the Bible verse that said: “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.”

“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.