Patriots' Ben Watson Defends Anti-LGBTQ Group on 'Fox & Friends'

New England Patriots football player Ben Watson today called it slanderous to label Focus on the Family "antigay."

The tight end defended the group onFox & Friends when asked about New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees's decision to film a spot for the organization.

Brees's video promoted Bring Your Bible to School Day, an event organized by Focus on the Family. But he notably has tried to distance himself from the controversial organization's record of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric while defending the video itself.

Watson even went a step further and said Focus on the Family is made up of good folk trying to stop same-sex couples from enjoying legal matrimony.

"The article itself was misleading," he said of coverage. "The mischaracterization of Focus on the Family and of Drew was slanderous. So my response was to stop lying with those sorts of labels."

Watson said Focus on the Family supports "religious liberty" and that it was a shame upholding religious beliefs would draw fire.

"What Focus on the Family does is it upholds marriage," he said. "Families are the basic building blocks of society."

Focus on the Family, of course, has done much more than fight marriage equality.

Founded by notable homophobe James Dobson, who in 2016 suggested killing trans people who use restrooms associated with their gender identity, the group has pushed for so-called religious freedom laws upholding businesses' right to discriminate based on sexuality and gender identity.

The group has also defended "conversion therapy" practices to turn gay people straight and devotes a whole section of its website to "leaving homosexuality."