'View' Co-Host Sherri Shepherd Denies Being Anti-Gay

'View' Co-Host Denies Being Anti-Gay

"The View" co-host Sherri Shepherd used the "love the sinner, hate the sin" rationale to explain why she is not homophobic.

Shepherd sat down with Fusion host Alicia Menendez Tuesday, Jan. 14, for a candid discussion about her six-year stint on the morning talk show. Menendez asked what the biggest misconception about her has been, and Shepherd said it's that she has been mistakenly deemed anti-gay because of her Christian background.

"I think people don't know my heart," she 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," she 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.' Okay. 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."

While she has spoken out against Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's stance on same-sex marriage, the 46-year-old comedian has come under fire multiple times for her own seemingly anti-gay viewpoints.

In 2010, Shepherd was blasted for saying high HIV/AIDS numbers among heterosexual black women was due to their having unprotected sex with men who were having sex with men.

Back in 2009, Adam Lambert fans tweeted at Shepherd before the singer appeared on "The View." They asked her not to be mean to the pop singer, Zap2It reported. Shepherd had previously criticized Lambert's risque American Music Awards performance, and some thought her criticism was spurred by the homoerotic nature of his act.

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