The ironically named left-wing website, Think Progress, is now demanding Nike stop sponsoring Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion who had the temerity earlier this week to agree with the 31 out of 31 states (including California) that have voted to oppose same-sex marriage:
Pacquiao’s comments imply the annihilation of gays and lesbians, putting him in stark contrast with his primary sponsor, Nike. Not only does Nike have a 100 percent score on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, but it has also been a vocal advocate for marriage equality. The Courage Campaign has now launched a petition calling on Nike to drop Manny Pacquiao for his offensive remarks, urging the company not to let its pro-equality reputation be tarnished by such a negative role model.
Pacquiao made the statement during an interview with the National Conservative Examiner:
“God’s words first … obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man,” Pacquiao told the Examiner. “God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married. It should not be of the same sex, so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
The story went on to quote Levitivus 20:13:
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.”
But because reading is hard, leftists like Think Progress attributed the “put to death” quote to the Pac Man, when he not only didn’t say it, but the article didn’t say he said it.
Personally, I don’t think anyone misread anything. I think a bullying smear campaign is being waged to destroy a world famous boxer for daring to express his religious beliefs and, most importantly, to send a chilling message to anyone else with celebrity standing that they had better keep their mouths shut if they agree with Pacquiao.
Think Progress has since updated its post to acknowledge the misquote and added Pacquiao’s denials, but as of now, it has not apologized for misquoting the boxer or retracted its demand Nike drop his sponsorship.
Think Progress and their leftist allies are nothing more than bullies, and this time they’ve been caught red-handed using lies to strike fear into the heart of anyone who holds the same opinion of same-sex marriage Obama did only last week.