CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield on Friday
clarified her remarks on being gay, saying she misspoke.
The Early Start anchor attracted
attention on Thursday when she responded to Pastor Curtis Knapp, the
Kansas pastor who said during a sermon that he believes the
government should kill gay men and lesbians.
Knapp
stood by his comments during a taped interview with CNN, saying:
“We punish pedophilia. We punish incest. We punish polygamy, and
various things. It's only homosexuality that is lifted out as an
exemption.” He went on say he wouldn't “lay a finger against
them.”
After playing the clip, Banfield
commented: “[W]e gotta outline here, when he says, 'They punish
incest and pedophilia,' please. Those things are often not by choice
and are crimes. Homosexuality is a lifestyle choice by people. It
is voluntary.”
On Friday, she clarified her remarks,
saying she misspoke.
“I made some comments yesterday that
ended up getting a lot of traction out there, not only on Twitter but
elsewhere. And I want to be very, very clear about what my comments
were about. I probably misspoke and mangled words, but I want to be
very clear.”
“When I said that incest and
pedophilia involve people who don't have a choice – victims who
don't have a choice – and then said a gay relationship, you do have
a choice, they are not crimes. Gay people involved in relationships
are not committing any crimes at all. However, those who perpetrate
incest and perpetrate pedophilia are committing crimes. I don't know
that my comments were taken in that light and I certainly hope they
were, but in no way did I ever want to suggest that being gay is a
choice. It is not. And I probably used the word 'lifestyle choice'
– not what I meant to say at all. Being gay is not a choice; being
in a voluntary gay relationship is a choice. It is not a crime. So
I hope that at least clears up any of the comments I made after that
story of the pastor.”
“And in no way do I agree with or
stand by any of the comments that that pastor made either,” she
added. (Watch
the segment at CNN.)