Manny Pacquiao: A Closer Look at His Same-Sex Marriage Opinion

The world we live in today is quite interesting and complicated.

There are nearly 193 countries in this blue planet covered in red, with violence occurring all around the world. The human population is a little over 6.5 billion, and every single person has a different point of view.

A brave person may not look so brave in a continent like Africa, and the nicest Christian will most likely disagree with another religious human-being in India.

Recently, Manny Pacquiao was misquoted by a writer from Examiner.com. The writer made Pacquiao look like a fool, writing things that Pacquiao never said. The article brought a lot of negative attention, and spread rapidly across the Web. Making a lot of people angry at the Filipino super-star.

“I’m not against the gay people,” Pacquiao said to the Wall Street Journal. “What I said is I’m not in favor of same-sex marriage.”

Manny Pacquiao disagrees with the idea of having gay marriage, since he is a strong Catholic. He is not against gay people; Pacquiao is just stating his opinion.

For people who do not know what an opinion is, an opinion is a thought that’s based on one’s view of the world. Of course, there are going to be people who choose to agree or disagree. It's just difficult to understand when trying to listen to the view of a person not raised near your continent.

Pacquiao was raised in a different country, a different world. The majority of the people in the Philippines are strong Catholics and raise their kids to be respectful.

An opinion will always be words from another dimension that people will not seem to understand. You can’t force a person to change their religious views, as that will just put you on Pacquiao’s shoes. Pacquiao is not Americanized, and people do not seem to realize that for a strange reason.

Pacquiao did apologize for something he did not say, showing the type of person he is. If he was against gays, he would have just ignored everything and tried to move on without an apology.

Pacquiao clarified his position with the L.A. Times:

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“What I said is a reporter asked me about gay marriage …. I am against gay marriage, but I’m not condemning gays, I have family — a cousin — who’s gay, and friends too. I’m just against gay marriage. I don’t even want to talk about the issue, but I was asked about it, so I gave my opinion.” Pacquiao said. “I’m against same-sex marriage, but I’m not condemning you. My favorite verse is ‘Love one another as you love yourself. Love your neighbor.’ So I love everybody!”

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Politics, religion and marriage will always bring negative attention. The writer did a poor job asking a question that has nothing to do with trading punches in the ring, which shows how professional a writer can be. As a writer, I could do the same thing for attention, however, I rather not be a fool.

There is a reason why great publications like ESPN do not ask athletes like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James or Tiger Woods about gay marriage at a press conference. Those are opinions that only bring negative attention—either way, one side of the crowd will always disagree.

There are athletes who are religious, like Tim Tebow. Manny Pacquiao is not the only religious athlete.

Religion or anything that leads to religion should not be brought up in a sports interview. That is something writers and reporters should respect and understand.

At least if a writer is going to ask for an athlete’s opinion, write the right information and words that came out of the athlete's mouth.

Remember, there are roughly 193 countries, and they all view the world differently. Some people are religious, and others choose not to be. Some kill for fun, and others kill for freedom. There are gay people, and there are straight people.

A smart religious man can respect another man’s beliefs—but disagree. That does not make him ignorant. Respect is a very strong word and that is what Pacquiao is doing. He is disagreeing, but he is doing it in a respectful way. He is not attacking the gay community, calling them names or taking it to another level.

Kobe Bryant was once fined $100,000 for using an anti-gay slur when playing the San Antonio Spurs, he called a referee a “f***ing f***ot.” He stated that he was frustrated. And he later kind of apologized and stressed, “What I said last night should not be taken literally.”

If that would’ve been Manny Pacquiao, the world would have been on fire by now. People would had bashed Pacquiao and called him all types of names.

Pacquiao’s apology was respectful, and he didn’t have to apologize for something he did not say. It shows how Pacquiao values respect.