Now: Your Daily Dose of Celebrity NewsKirk Cameron Defends Anti-Gay Remarks: ‘I Spoke as Honestly as I Could’
Kirk Cameron ignited a media firestorm when he called homosexuality "unnatural," "detrimental," and "ultimately destructive" during an interview on "Piers Morgan Tonight" on Friday — and he's not backing down. In a statement released to ABC, the former "Growing Pains" actor defended himself, noting that he "spoke as honestly as I could" when he was asked by the CNN host about his views on homosexuality and expressed shock that his comments were thought to be "not loving toward those in the gay community … I can assuredly say that it's my life's mission to love all people."
Cameron — who was on Morgan's program to promote "Monumental," his documentary about problems in American society today — went on to say that he should be allowed to express his beliefs freely "without being slandered, accused of hate speech, and told from those who preach 'tolerance' that I need to either bend my beliefs to their moral standards or be silent when I'm in the public square." Furthermore, he concluded that despite the outcry over his comments, "I've been encouraged by the support of many friends (including gay friends, incidentally)."
But many more have been very critical of Cameron's beliefs, including his onetime "Growing Pains" co-stars Tracey Gold and Alan Thicke. "I am a strong supporter of the #LGBT Community, and I believe in equal rights for all," Gold, who played Cameron's sister on the '80s sitcom, tweeted on Monday. As for his TV father, Thicke also took to his Twitter account to give his two cents about the born-again Christian's thought system "I'm getting him some new books. The Old Testament simply can't be expected to explain everything."
More Celebrity Features on Yahoo!:
