Sherri Shepherd, a cohost of The View, claims she's not homophobic just because she believes homosexuality is a sin and LGBT people are going to hell.
Shepherd sought to defend herself in a recent interview with Fusion host Alicia Menendez. When Menendez asked what Shepherd felt has been the biggest misconception about her has been throughout her career, she said it was that people had labeled her antigay -- unfairly, in her opinion. Shepherd insisted she had no malice toward LGBT people, saying her beliefs are the result of her Christian background and though she hates the sin, she still loves the sinner.
"I think people don't know my heart," Shepherd told Menendez. "I think people feel I'm very judgmental. I think people feel I'm very homophobic. If they knew me, and knew my heart. ... You grow up being a Christian and you grow up believing homosexuality is a sin; you're going to hell if you're a homosexual. This is something that they teach in churches. So it's something that I grew up believing."
"I might not agree with your lifestyle, but I love you," Shepherd continued. "You may not agree with my lifestyle, but you love me ... I don't say it's a choice. If you tell me, 'Sherri, I was born gay.' OK. I'm not gonna argue with you, because I can't tell you how you feel and what's going on inside. I'm trying to make it into heaven by the skin of my teeth ... I don't know who I'm gonna see. So if you tell me you're born [gay], I'm not gonna argue with you. And I absolutely respect you for that. I just ask that people respect how I feel, [I] respect how you feel and we can have a great dialogue."
Watch Fusion's interview with Shepard in the video below.
