A participant wears a rainbow tie during the annual Pride March on Christopher Street in the Manhattan borough of New York
A participant wears a rainbow tie during the annual Pride March on Christopher Street in the Manhattan borough of New York June 29, 2014. The annual Gay Pride event draws thousands of civil rights demonstrators and an estimated 1 million viewers. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Mia Freedman's comparison between gay people and paedophiles sparked severe controversies on social media. She was strongly criticised for her comment on Network Ten's The Project.

She compared paedophiles with homosexual people in terms of their sexual preferences. She argued why paedophiles were criticised for their "sexual practice" when gay people were not. She apparently drew a similarity between the sexual practices of two different sets of people. "We accept that gay people can't change who they love and who they're sexually attracted to. So why do we think that people who are sexually attracted to children can be rehabilitated?" The Sydney Morning Herald quoted her saying. Freedman, nevertheless, expressed her favour for the register. "Name and shame them. I want know where they are," she said.

Freedman was talking about the introduction of a new law in the Northern Territory, which would expose convicted paedophiles publicly by revealing their image, name, location and description on a public Web site. This was, however, not the first when the media consultant was criticised for her comments. She earlier said on ABC's Q&A that she would be disturbed if her seven-year-old daughter had the aspirations of becoming a sex worker after growing up. She was instantly countered by sex worker Brooke Magnanti who was present on the panel. The feud continued even after the show as both of them kept on posting multiple blog posts defending their individual stands.

Freedman was widely criticised on Twitter. Tracey Skittles wrote that it was disappointing to find the comparison after the gay community had "fought long and hard to not be considered sexual deviates." According to Jarrah James, it was a "shame" that Freedman had compared the love between gay people and the kind of feelings paedophiles had for children. Another user called Robyn, however, did not find the comment offensive even though it took a while to understand that the comment "wasn't homophobic."

Freedman was quick to apologise for her comments. She said on Twitter that she was "mortified" to know that her "clumsily worded point" had been "misunderstood" by the gay community. She said that she had been a "fierce supporter" for marriage equality.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au