Even as Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) tries to back away from remarks he made comparing homosexuality to alcoholism, RedState.com founder and Fox News contributor Erick Erickson is rushing to defend the statements.

Media Matters reported that Erickson penned a column on Friday for Red State in which he said that homosexuality is a disorder like addiction or alcoholism that sufferers must “struggle” to “overcome.”

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Perry was in San Francisco last week addressing the Commonwealth Club of California when he said, “Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that. I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.”

Within days, Perry had retracted the statement, saying he’d “stepped right in it” by revealing his opinions.

Erickson, however, said on Friday, “I largely agree with Governor Rick Perry and appreciate him speaking up.”

“Whether one is born gay or not does not mean God made a person gay,” Erickson continued. “And whether it is the unrepentant alcoholic, homosexual, adulterer, liar, or any of the others the Duck Commander listed, none are going to be saved on the last day without repenting.”

“God gives us Hope to overcome the struggles of this world, including the flesh,” he wrote. “YOLO is a lie and if it feels good it does not mean we should do it. The zeitgeist of the present age tells us otherwise, but the Holy Spirit calls us to a higher and better and more eternal purpose.”

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Media Matters’ Carlos Maza said, “This isn’t the first time Erickson has warned gay people that they face damnation if they don’t “repent.”. Last year, Erickson wrote that gay couples trying to get married were on the ‘road to hell.’ He claimed that A&E was ‘destined for hell fire‘ after suspending Duck Dynasty‘s Phil Robertson following his homophobic remarks. And in February, Erickson warned that businesses involved in same-sex weddings were ‘aiding and abetting‘ sin.”

[image of Erick Erickson via Gage Skidmore’s Flickr photostream, Creative Commons licensed]