Phil Robertson had every right to say a gay lifestyle is against his religious beliefs in an interview with GQ magazine — but then his statements turned homophobic, says David Swerdlick, a writer with the news and opinion website TheRoot.com.
"If he had simply come out and said . . . he didn't condone gay marriage or he had an issue with the gay orientation, that would have been one thing. That would have been just a simple statement of 'this is where I stand on the issue,''' Swerdlick told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"[But] I read that GQ interview as him kind of going out of his way to really rip gays and lesbians and comparing them to terrorists, idolaters, drunkards. To me that was gratuitous."
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In his interview with GQ, Robertson's anti-gay comments included a paraphrasing of biblical passages on homosexual behavior.
"[You] start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there: bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman, and that woman and those men," Robertson told GQ.
"It seems like, to me, a woman would be more desirable [than a man] . . . That's just me," Robertson said.
"She's got more to offer," he continued. "I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I'm saying? But hey, sin: it's not logical, my man; it's just not logical."
Swerdlick said that while Roberston "has every right to say it, he has a constitutional right . . . but, you know, people have a right to take offense at that. It's homophobic . . .
"Just because you're famous and because you're folksy and have a big, mountain-man beard doesn't mean people aren't going to hold you accountable for things that you say," Swerdlick said.
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