Jay-Z,
42-year-old hip-hop mogul, recently backed President Barack Obama's support of
same-sex marriage, saying discrimination against homosexuals is tantamount to
discrimination against black people.
During a
press conference to announce a "Made In America" music festival
taking place in Philadelphia this summer, the rapper spoke about the
legalization of gay marriage.
"I've
always thought it as something that was still, um, holding the country
back," Jay-Z told CNN Monday. "What people do in their own homes is
their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That's their
business. There is no different than discriminating against blacks. It's discrimination
plain and simple."
Obama
vocalized that he was in support of gay marriage last week, citing the
"golden rule" as his reason.
"Do
unto others as you would have them do to you," the president said in an
interview with ABC News. "At a certain point I've just concluded that for
me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think
same-sex couples should be able to get married."
Still,
not all public figures were not in support of Obama's views. In an interview
with the National Conservative Examiner while training in Los Angeles, Calif.,
Christian boxer Manny Pacquiao spoke about the need for society to put
"God's words first."
While
the 33-year-old boxer said he respected Obama as a person, he told the Examiner
that the president should read the Bible, or "manual of life," to
better society.
"God
only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if
they so are in love with each other," Pacquiao said. "It should not
be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days
of Sodom and Gomorrah of old."