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Radio presenter quits show after confronting guest’s antigay stance

Radio presenter quits show after confronting guest’s antigay stance

BBC radio presenter Iain Lee has left his job after confronting antigay views being expressed on his show and calling them bigotry.

Lee’s comments came during an interview with lawyer Libby Powell, who works for the Christian Legal Center.

Powell claimed The Bible expressly calls homosexuality a sin.

The interview took place during Lee’s BBC Three Counties Radio Breakfast Show. Powell was there to defend a reverend who read anti-gay verses of the Christian holy book during a prison service, and was subsequently accused of homophobia.

Lee continued to call antigay passages in the Bible – and Powell’s literal translation of them – “homophobic” and “bigoted.”

He asked Powell if she “supported bigotry” and said that calling homosexuality a sin is the same thing as preaching hatred.

Powell argued that antigay passagses in the Bible aren’t bigoted, suggesting the book’s teachings didn’t attack gays but “lifestyle” choices, like “people who have sex before marriage” and “people who steal.”

She said people were welcome to believe in and read from The Bible regardless of whether others feel the teachings are bigoted.

Lee and the BBC officially apologized later, claiming the interview was “at several points inappropriate.”

A statement issued to Pink News read:

“The BBC – and Iain Lee himself – wish to apologize for any offense that may have been caused.”

Lee confirmed that he had left his show on Twitter.

When asked if he’d be returning, he responded:

According to Reverend Barry Trayhorn, the Bible passage he read at prison services was 1 Corinthians, Chapter 6 Verses 9 to 11, which include the lines: “neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor coveters, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the Kingdom of God”.

h/t: The Guardian

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