Bishop denies comments on homosexuals

4 April 2007

BRUSSELS – The bishop of Namur, Monsignor Léonard, denies that he described homosexuals as “abnormal.” “I do not think that I used the word ‘abnormal’,” the bishop says.

In an interview in weekly magazine Télémoustique the bishop reportedly said that gay men and lesbians were “abnormal.” The magazine says Léonard described homosexuality as “a form of human sexuality that had not developed properly.”

“I don’t believe I used the word ‘abnormal.’ I always avoid that word,” Léonard said on Wednesday. The bishop of Namur laments that he was not able to read the article before it was published. “I am speaking, as Freud did, about a sexuality that has stopped developing. That does not prevent me from respecting homosexuals,” Léonard explained.

In the interview the bishop also talked about other ethical issues. He voiced his disapproval of euthanasia, abortion and contraception. “Contraceptive methods are a form of Russian roulette, because they are only 90 to 95 percent reliable, as protection against AIDS for instance,” the bishop reportedly said.

Léonard stressed on Wednesday that he never said that contraceptives are “useless against AIDS.” “I answered that contraceptives were the lesser evil in the case of risky sexual behaviour,” he said.

The bishop thinks that everyone who engages in risky sexual behaviour should protect themselves fully. “The only protection which is 100 percent safe is to avoid such behaviour. I am not criticising the good work that those who work to combat AIDS are doing,” Léonard said.

Subject: Belgian news