The mayor of a small Alabama town is apologizing after he reportedly recommended "killing" members of the LGBTQ community in a now-deleted Facebook post.

Carbon Hill Mayor Mark Chambers was responding to a comment on his original post, which read in all capital letters: "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!"

In a subsequent comment, the mayor wrote: "The only way to change it would be to kill the problem out. I know it's bad to say but with out [sic] killing them out there's no way to fix it."

Chambers' comments come just as the nation kicks off Pride Month.

Mark Chambers Carbon Hill City Hall

In a telephone call with the station, Chambers initially denied writing the post. He later backtracked, admitting he was responsible and adding that he believed he was sending a private message, not a public post.

The post, which has been removed, was originally reported by the Birmingham TV station WBRC.

Chambers claimed he "never said anything about killing out gays" but that "if it comes to a revolution in this country both sides of these people will be killed out."

On Tuesday, Chambers issued an apology on Facebook: "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 [sic]."

A call and email to the city clerk's office were not immediately returned.