CARBON HILL, Ala. – An Alabama mayor on Tuesday apologized after defending comments he reportedly made on Facebook suggesting that gay people should be killed, saying his words were taken out of context.
According to news station WBRC, Carbon Hill Mayor Mark Chambers posted on Friday a graphic that said, "We live in a society where homosexuals lecture us on morals, transvestites lecture us on human biology, baby killers lecture us on human rights and socialists lecture us on economics.”
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Chambers then commented on the post, writing, "By giving the minority more rights than the majority. I hate to think of the country my grandkids will live in unless somehow we change and I think that will take a revolution.” He followed that up by writing, "The only way to change it would be to kill the problem out. I know it’s bad to say but without killing them out there’s no way to fix it.”
Reporters from WBRC spoke with Chambers over the phone Monday. He initially denied writing the comments before defending himself, saying that his words were taken out of context, according to the station.
“I never said anything about killing out gays or anything like that,” Chambers reportedly told the station. “If it comes to a revolution in this country both sides of these people will be killed out.”
He added that the comments were meant to be shared in a private message as opposed to a public post, according to the station.
During the call, Chambers also reportedly spoke about immigrants, calling them "ungrateful" and saying that they were taking over the country.
On Tuesday, Chambers posted an apology to his Facebook page, writing, "Although I believe my comment was taken out of context and was not targeting the LGBTQ community, I know that it was wrong to say anyone should be kill. I hope very much our Citizens and anyone that was hurt by this comment can accept my apology.”
Chambers was elected mayor of Carbon Hill in 2014. The rural town has a population of less than 2,000 people.