American TV host Mario Lopez has u-turned on comments he made about parenting transgender children, insisting he supports the LGBTQI+ community.
Lopez appeared on The Candace Owens Show and criticised parents who said they allowed their children to determine their own gender, reports People magazine.
"My God, if you’re three years old and you’re saying you’re feeling a certain way, or you think you’re a boy or a girl, or whatever the case may be, I just think it’s dangerous as a parent to make that determination then – ‘Okay, well then you’re going to be a boy or a girl', whatever the case may be. It’s sort of alarming and, my gosh, I just think about the repercussions later on.”
The comments received major backlash from the transgender community, with many calling Lopez "uneducated".
He later apologised, saying his statements were ignorant.
"I am going to use this opportunity to better educate myself. Moving forward, I will be more informed and thoughtful.”
In an interview in April, actress Charlize Theron said her children's gender was not for her to decide, explaining that she was raising them as gender neutral.
"My job as a parent is to celebrate them and to love them, and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be. And I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected within that," she told Daily Mail.
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