Christian conservative Sandy Rios on Wednesday denied comparing gay love to Ariel Castro's love for his victims, then defended the remark.

On Friday's episode of her American Family Association (AFA) radio show, Rios and her guest, Chicago pastor Erwin Lutzer, agreed that allowing gay couples to marry because they love each other is wrong.

Lutzer claimed that even pedophiles believe that they “love” the children they abuse. Rios agreed, adding that Ariel Castro said that he loved his victims, three women he kidnapped off the streets of Cleveland, Ohio and kept in his boarded-up house for a decade.

On Wednesday, she claimed that she had been misunderstood, but then proceeded to defend her remarks.

“I stand by what we say … As unfortunate and uncomfortable, heartbreaking, irrational that seems to some of you that so steeped in the homosexual lifestyle, you're steeped in popular culture, it's still the truth,” she told her listeners.

“If what we're saying is not true, it should have no power over you, it shouldn't bother you. Because I think in time, what's true and what's right, what works, what comports with reality will be lasting. So, let's just see if your view of this is lasting. Let's just see if homosexual marriage is all that you think it is, if it's a pure and wonderful expression of love for two people.”

“Now, I would never say that homosexuals cannot love. They can, of course. Capable of great love. And I know there's been tremendous heartbreak in the homosexual community – and I've talked about this before – heartbreak when you lose a loved one, heartbreak when you break up. Because, you know, there aren't many lasting relationships – maybe among lesbians, but certainly not among gay men, that's not the norm.”

“So, there's a lot of heartbreak, a lot of rejection when you get older, so I know that you're capable and able. You're humans, you love. The point is, the right kind of love. The right kind of love is life-giving. And the right kind of love is love for God, love for your natural family, love between a man and a woman and a woman and a man in marriage. Not cohabitating. There's just some standards that God lays down.”