NJ Assemblyman Apologizes for Calling Philadelphia Eagles 'Gaybirds' in Facebook Status

A Giants fan and Jersey City police detective who represents his Legislative District in the New Jersey State Assembly has been in hot water since posting a message on his Facebook profile Sunday night after the Giants' shocking win over the Green Bay Packers:

"We are not going to just lay down, we come to play. Who the hell do you think we are the DALLAS COWGIRLS OR THOSE GAYBIRDS FROM PHILLY...NO WE ARE THE NEW YORK GIANTS.”

Assemblyman Charles Mainor's 'GAYBIRDS' and 'COWGIRLS' comments have been criticized as anti-gay and anti-woman.

Steven Goldstein, chair and CEO of gay-rights group Garden State Equality, told The Jersey Journal Monday that Mainor’s comments were “inadvisable,” adding that they “hurt a lot of people.”

Mainor has apologized for the comment, even though he says he only wrote half of it. The Journal reports:

"Mainor was in Jersey City last night at a party to watch the Giants play the Green Bay Packers when he posted almost the entire above message on his Facebook page, he said. A friend of his sat at the computer and added the comment about the 'gaybirds from Philly,' Mainor said.

'I have to take full responsibility because it was under my name,' he said. 'I have no excuse, other than me not looking before he did send the post.'”

Mainor says he has "very close relatives who are gay," and hopes that people do not take the comment posted on his Facebook wall to mean he isn’t supportive of gay rights.

Goldstein accepts Mainor's apology.

“I don’t believe, from what I know of Assemblyman Mainor, that they reflect any deep prejudice on his part,” Goldstein told the Journal. “He is a good and decent man who made an unfortunate misstep here.”