Filipino boxing superstar, lawmaker and born-again Christian Manny Pacquiao does not deserve the hatred being heaped upon him by LGBT activists and their supporters after he was misquoted in a TV interview that homosexuals were "worse than animals."

This was the stand taken by LifesiteNews, a pro-life online news outlet, in its editorial published in its Feb. 19, 2016 edition.

On the contrary, Pacquiao "deserves praise for speaking the truth on homosexuality and marriage, out of love for homosexuals, in a hostile culture, no matter the personal risk," the editorial said.

During the TV interview where he was asked his opinion on same-sex marriage, Pacquiao did not actually condemned homosexuals as "worse than animals" as what the LGBT activists claimed, LifesiteNews contends.

The point that Pacquiao was driving at, and which was conveniently ignored by the mainstream media, is that to "anyone with eyes to see, there is obviously a design within nature, and that design clearly points to the biological complementarity of men and women."

Speaking in his native Pilipino language, Pacquiao said it was "common sense" for male animals to mate only with females of their kind. Thus, for humans to change this "natural order" and engage in same-sex relations is an aberration.

However, news media mistranslated his remarks and ascribed to him the statement that "homosexuals are worse than animals."

LifesiteNews said what Pacquiao said was that "the animal kingdom almost universally acts in conformity with this design" of male-female complementarity, with very few exceptions. "It is only man that blinds himself to that design, and deliberately acts against it – to his own destruction."

"Now, this may not be the most sophisticated argument against same-sex marriage or homosexual behavior. And there is no question that some of Pacquiao's phrasing was unfortunate and left too much open to misinterpretation. But there is no evidence to support the LGBT or media narrative that Pacquiao was irrationally lashing out at homosexuals out of hate or 'homophobia'," the editorial said.

This was made even clearer when Pacquiao issued an apology later, saying he regrets having hurt the feelings of homosexuals, adding: "I'm not condemning LGBT. I love you all with the love of the Lord. God Bless you all and I'm praying for you."

LifesiteNews said "these are not the words of a homophobic bigot" as the critics claim.

"Unfortunately, however, we live in a society in which the mere expression of disagreement is quickly labeled as 'hatred,' and where well-funded LGBT activist organizations are on the prowl to expose and punish the slightest deviation from the prescribed rules of political correctness on homosexuality," it said.

"In this political climate, even pointing out basic biological realities has become de facto evidence of bigotry – even when doing so is done out of love and concern for homosexuals themselves. Thus, it is no longer acceptable even to highlight the self-evident truth that homosexual sexual acts go against the clear design of the human body, and as a consequence are accompanied by a host of physical and psychological harms – including astronomically increased risks of contracting STDs like HIV/AIDS and gonorrhoea, as well as heightened rates of anal cancer, breast cancer, drug and alcohol abuse, depression and suicide," the editorial added.

To allow Christians to express their support for Pacquiao, LifesiteNews has launched a campaign where readers can affix their names to an open letter of gratitude to the boxing champ turned Christian hero for his support of natural marriage. As of Sunday, over 24,000 readers have already placed their names on the letter.