American Idol Finalist 'Doesn't Agree' With the Gay 'Lifestyle'

La'Porsha Ranae, a Mississippi native and the runner-up on Idol's last season, is feeling the heat after taking digs at LGB people.

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

April 10 2016 3:21 PM EST

April 10 2016 3:35 PM EST

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American Idol finalist La'Porsha Ranae doesn't thing gay people are "animals," but she still doesn't agree with their "lifestyle" or "life choices."

McComb, Miss., native Ranae, the runner-up on the last season of the recently-concluded Idol series, was asked about her state's new anti-LGBT bill on a conference call with the press, Jezebel reports. Her response raised many eyebrows:

"This is how I feel about the LGBT community: They are people just like us. They're not animals as someone stated before. They're people with feelings. Although all of us may not agree with that particular lifestyle for religious reasons, whatever the reason is, you still treat each other with respect. Everybody is a human being. We should be able to coexist with one another."

Her follow-up statement didn't help matters:

"I am one of the people who don't really agree with that lifestyle. I wasn't brought up that way. It wasn't how I was raised. But I do have a lot of friends and a lot of people that I love dearly who are gay and homosexual and they're such sweet, nice people. We should just respect each other's differences and opinions and move on."

Then a tweet from Ranae demonstrated how sold she is on the concept of people choosing to be gay or bisexual.