Mississippi state Rep. Andy Gipson is under fire after he criticized President Barack Obama's support for gay marriage.

The GOP lawmaker posted on his now-deleted Facebook page: “Been a lot of press on Obama's opinion on 'homosexual marriage.' The only opinion that counts is God's: see Romans 1:26-28 and Leviticus 20:13. Anyway you slice it, it is sin. Not to mention horrific social policy.”

Gipson deleted the post, but not before several blogs captured screen grabs, including The Huffington Post, and noted that the Leviticus passage calls for the death of gays.

The lawmaker said in a separate post that he had received threats.

“Here at home I've received several threats in one day, to me personally, via email and on the phone, and at least one apparent death-threat left on the answering machine to my whole family,” he wrote.

“I reject and resent that accusation; I have [never] condoned or requested the killing [of gay people]. What I did intend and did say is that the Bible clearly defines homosexual conduct as morally wrong – a sin,” he added.

A change.org online petition calling for a public apology from Gipson has attracted several hundred signatures.