Pacquiao joins an increasing number of athletes and celebrities around the world letting their intolerance show on and off the playing field.

World Boxing Organisation Welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, considered by many as one of the finest boxers currently active in the sport, has come out strongly in opposition to US President Barack Obama’s statement of support for marriage equality in the United States, issued last week.

In an interview with conservative U.S. website and publication, the National Conservative Examiner, Pacquiao; a devout Catholic, congressman in his native country (the Philippines), and the first-ever boxer to win titles in eight different weight classes, quoted the Bible to illustrate his opinions on same sex marriage:

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.

He was quoting the oft-called upon Old Testament book of Leviticus. He also said,

God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other. It should not be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah of Old.

Pacquiao is obviously a man of strong principles, but his statements may come to cost him dearly, not only as an immensely popular athlete with multi-million dollar sponsorships in the U.S., but also as an elected official of a foreign government that is very close to the U.S.

His statements came to light only hours ago, and the backlash in the States is growing by the minute. Says one critic, Rick Jacobs of Courage Campaign, a community organisation based in Los Angeles,

I do think that American sponsors are going to have to look very carefully about whether they can continue to pour money into his apparently rather empty soul. Not only does he live in L.A., he makes a lot of money thanks the United States and sponsors here in particular.

As yet, no further comment from Pacquiao, his representation or sponsors, but the story, like the hour in the States at the moment, is young.

[Source: LA Weekly, NY Daily News, Crave Online]