Filipino boxer and politician Manny Pacquiao has repeated his opposition to homosexuality, after earlier apologising for saying that gay people were “worse than animals”.<\/p>\n
“What I am saying is right. I mean I am just stating the truth, what the Bible says,” he said at training in his hometown of General Santos.<\/p>\n
The boxer said his only mistake had been to compare people to animals.<\/p>\n
Nike ended its deal after his initial comments, calling them “abhorrent”.<\/p>\n
Mr Pacquiao had said during a TV interview that animals were better than gay people “because they can distinguish male from female”.<\/p>\n
His remarks were condemned across the world – including by gay basketball star Jason Collins and the boxer who defeated him last May, Floyd Mayweather.<\/p>\n
Mr Pacquiao then apologized on Facebook, saying he was sorry for hurting people and was “not condemning LGBT” but was still against gay marriage.<\/p>\n
But on Thursday, a Bible quote appeared on his Instagram account, reading: “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”<\/p>\n
Local Filipino media captured a screenshot of the image before it was deleted and Mr Pacquiao’s staff in General Santos confirmed that the post had been published on the boxer’s account.<\/p>\n
However, Mr Pacquiao – still wearing his Nike sports gear – insisted the row had not affected him.<\/p>\n
“I’m happy. I’m always happy because God is with me,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Pacquiao intends to retire from boxing after his April fight against Timothy Bradley from the US, and will step up his career in politics.<\/p>\n
The boxer, who has converted from Catholicism to an evangelical Protestant faith, has said he wants to be president.<\/p>\n
Homosexuality is not a crime in the Philippines, but gay marriage is against the law in the strongly Catholic country.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Filipino boxer and politician Manny Pacquiao has repeated his opposition to homosexuality, after earlier apologising for saying that gay people were “worse than animals”. “What I am saying is right. I mean I am just stating the truth, what the Bible says,” he said at training in his hometown of General Santos. The boxer said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n