“Tell Nike To Drop Homophobic Boxer Manny Pacquaio” is splashed all over a new campaign by the pro-gay rights group, the Courage Campaign, that is trying to put pressure on Nike to drop professional boxer Manny Pacquaio over words Pacquiao never said. Pacquaio recently came out against gay marriage when he was interviewed, but gay rights groups have dangerously and irresponsibly — and falsely — accused him of saying gay people should be put to death, which is the basis for the Courage Campaign’s “Drop Manny” campaign, which states:
In an interview published Tuesday, March 15th with the conservative Examiner newspaper, the world-famous boxer and Los Angeles resident quoted Leviticus, saying:
“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
Kids all over the world look up to Pacquiao as a role model. Nike earned a 100% rating in the 2012 Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index as a pro-LGBT company. Will they live up to it?
Sign our petition and tell Nike: “Do not tarnish your brand. Stand with millions of LGBT and fair minded-people the world over. Drop Manny Pacquiao now. Hatred surely does not = Nike.”
There is just one problem with this campaign. The quote attributed to Pacquiao was never said by Pacquaio. It was written by the article’s author, Granville Ampong. Here is the paragraph from the article in which Pacquiao was interviewd:
Pacquiao’s directive for Obama calls societies to fear God and not to promote sin, inclusive of same-sex marriage and cohabitation, notwithstanding what Leviticus 20:13 has been pointing all along: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
Anybody who reads the article can clearly see that Ampong is the one who is quoting Leviticus — and not Pacquaio.
According to its website, the Courage Campaign describes itself as “an online organizing network that empowers more than 750,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country. Those who have funded and/or partnered with the organization include labor union groups such as AFSCME, The California Federation of Teachers, The California Nurses Association, the California Teachers Association, and the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
It is bad enough that a prominent Los Angeles shopping center has banned Pacquaio from its premises because of his stance on gay marriage. It is unconscionable that a group funded in part by various labor unions is now running a smear campaign against Pacquaio and calling on his sponsor to sever ties with him over words Pacquaio never even said.
This is what the so-called “tolerant”, “non-hating” gay rights activists have come to. And it is not pretty.
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