MANNY PACQUIAO'S "SINCERE" RETRACTION

The boxer who thinks gays should be put to death has retracted his statement--sort of. I got this email after I signed a petition thanking me as if some major victory has been achieved. But look at his comments: is this a real victory? He thought he could get away with his extreme hate-speech but when his NIKE deal was threatened, he pulled back. Do you really think he's had a change of heart? I don't. And I don't, as this letter say, respect his or anyone else's religious views which claim that I should be put to death because I'm gay. And by quoting his favorite verse which contradicts the one he used as the basis for me to be put to death, he now uses a different one--WHICH PROVES THAT THE BIBLE CONTRADICTS ITSELF CONSTANTLY. And that it's often the dumbest and meanest and most violent among us take the bible literally. Now he's just picking and choosing which verses enable him to still get paid by NIKE. Frankly, I'm glad to know how hateful he truly is whether he'll say it publicly now or not. It helps to know your enemies. And I say denounce any person, book or religion which denounces you. That's what gay pride is all about. A real victory would be for NIKE to immediately dump this troll.

MANNY PACQUIAO: A MONSTER FOR CHRIST. OH, AND NIKE.

FROM COURAGE CAMPAIGN:

Thanks to you and over 25,000 other Courage members from around the globe, in less than 24 hours, world-famous boxer/Philippines congressman/multi-millionaire Manny Pacquiao acknowledged that he cannot spew anti-gay remarks without real consequences.

Here's what happened:

1.  After you took action, Pacquiao scrambled to correct the record in an interview with "Extra" host Mario Lopez, saying, "To the gay community, I apologize. My favorite verse is 'Love one another as you love yourself. Love your neighbor.' So I love everybody!"(1) To the Associated Press, "It's in the Bible: Do not judge. I'm not judging."(2) Finally, his statement: "I’m not against gay people. I have a relative who is also gay. We can’t help it if they were born that way."(3) What's more, according to reports, Nike, the target of our action, also issued a statement: "Any recent remarks made by Manny Pacquiao reflect his personal views. Nike is strongly opposed to discrimination of any kind and has a long history of supporting and standing up for the rights of GLBT individuals."(4) Jon, YOU made this happen!

2. There is a "but" -- Pacquiao continues to confuse religion and the law in opposing same-sex marriage. We respect his religious views about marriage and ask him to support making all loving couples equal under the law.

3. Last and most remarkably, world-famous boxer and Pacquiao rival Floyd Mayweather jumped into the mix last night, tweeting to his 2.8 million followers, "I stand behind President Obama & support gay marriage. I'm an American citizen & I believe people should live their life the way they want."(5) This is also a huge step forward to make inroads among what can be a very homophobic community. We thank Mr. Mayweather for his announcement and support for equality.

Together we've made great progress and we think Pacquiao has too.