Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino boxer who
lives and trains in Los Angeles, has said, in response to President
Barack Obama's support for gay marriage, that gay men “must be put
to death.”
The 33-year-old Pacquiao took issue
with Obama citing his faith in making his endorsement. The president
said that he and the First Lady “are both practicing Christians and
obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the
views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the
thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing
himself on our behalf, but it's also the Golden Rule, you know, treat
others the way you would want to be treated.”
“If a man lies with a man as one lies
with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable,” Pacquiao
told The
Examiner. “They must be put to death; their blood will be
on their own heads.”
“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 added. “It should not be of the same sex so as
to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and
Gomorrah of Old.”
Rick Jacobs, founder and chair of the
Los Angeles-based gay rights advocate Courage Campaign, criticized
Pacquiao, who is also a politician in the Philippines.
“I do think that American sponsors
are going to have to look very carefully about whether they can
continue to pour money into this apparently empty soul. Not only
does he live in L.A., he makes a lot of money thanks [to] the United
States and sponsors here in particular.”
“I think that it is outrageous that
an official of a foreign government is criticizing an ally, is taking
a position about the president's support for Americans. That's a
really big step for a foreign elected official to take. We should
look carefully at that,” Jacobs told LA
Weekly.