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Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons has attempted to clear up some recent remarks he made about gay marriage.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the actor has responded to the backlash created from comments made in an interview on April 3.

Irons, who said he didn’t have an opinion on same-sex relationships, compared allowing same-sex couples to marry to that of incest.

“Could a father not marry his son? It seems to me that now they’re fighting for the name. I worry that it means somehow we debase, or we change, what marriage is. I just worry about that.”

Irons then goes on to say that “it is lovely to have someone to love”, stating that sex is not the only thing that matters in “living with another animal”. The context of the comments led many to believe that Irons was indeed against gay marriage but in a letter he posted on his website he responded to the backlash.

In the letter he rights:

“I am deeply concerned that from my on line discussion with the Huffington Post, it has been understood hat I hold a position that is anti gay. This is as far from the truth of me as to say that I believe the earth is flat.”

He goes on to say that he only had concern that the institution of marriage may be altered in meaning if same-sex marriage is allowed. He said he is further concerned that the legalization of same-sex marriage may extend to the possibility of future marriage between same sex family members for tax reasons.

Although it is not clear what Irons mean by “tax reasons”, he felt his argument was valid. The Oscar-winning actor, however, felt that he should be able to freely discuss his ideas without judgment or name-calling and again refuted that he was anti-gay marriage in the letter:

“I am clearly aware that many gay relationships are more long term, responsible and even healthier in their role of raising children, than their hetero equivalents, and that love often creates the desire to mark itself in a formal way, as Marriage would do. Clearly society should find a way of doing this.”

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