Antigay Mayor Apologizes for Facebook Rants

The mayor of La Grande, Ore., admitted Monday that he was wrong for calling same-sex marriages an "abomination" on his Facebook page last week.

Mayor Daniel Pokorney's comment last week garnered nearly 200 Facebook comments from locals and people from across the country, mostly condemning his statement, The Observer newspaper reports. One of his posts compared Washington State, which just enacted marriage equality, to Sodom and Gomorrah. Another post criticized New Jersey lawmakers for also approving marriage equality, despite Gov. Chris Christie eventually vetoing the legislation.

He made the apology at an Eastern Oregon University forum with angered students. "I sincerely apologize for my choice of words in the two Facebook posts last week. My choice of words was harmful and hurtful," he said in the forum with university president Bob Davies and students who requested the meeting. "I don't hate anyone. My intent was not to be hurtful, but to express myself on important issues. I understand there is a right way and a wrong way to address the issues."