"I like gays," she said. "I'm not a homophobic and I'm so sick of people saying that. Just because I'm for traditional marriage doesn't really mean I'm scared or anything of anyone else, and I don't hate anybody."
Also read: New 'DWTS' Cast: Bristol Palin, Pamela Anderson, Drew Lachey, Kelly Monaco
Palin spoke at the "Dancing With the Stars" panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, where she was one of the "Dancing" all-stars named for the upcoming season of the show. Of all of the contestants -- including Pamela Anderson and past winners Drew Lachey and Kelly Monaco -- Palin received the lion's share of the questions.
"You know, people are going to make up stuff about me no matter what," she said. "Whatever. I'm going to go dance and I'm going to have fun. ... It's not about politics and it's not about traditional marriage and anything like that. It's just about dancing and it's going to be fun."
Asked if she appreciated any aspect of the media coverage she received, she replied: "Do I like to provide for my son? Yes, I do."
Palin hasn't just been criticized for her support of gay marriage: She also made a gay joke during her first run on "Dancing," in 2010.
Another competitor that season, Margaret Cho, said Palin only competed because her mother, Sarah Palin, "forced her to do it."
Bristol Palin denied it in a December 2010 Facebook post, adding:
"You say you 'don't agree with the family's politics at all' but I say, if you understood that commonsense conservative values supports the right of individuals like you, like all of us, to live our lives with less government interference and more independence, you would embrace us faster than KD Lang at an Indigo Girls concert."
In November 2010, she apologized on behalf of herself and her then-16-year-old sister, Willow, after Willow used homophobic slurs in a Facebook feud between the sisters and people making fun of their family.
