THE Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, has caused
controversy by stating on a national television programme that the
"lifespan of practising gays is significantly shorter than the
ordinary so-called heterosexual man.
Dr Jensen made the comment in response
to a question about comments made earlier in the week by Jim
Wallace, the managing director of the conservative Australian
Christian Lobby (ACL). Mr Wallace was reported as saying that the
homosexual lifestyle was less healthy than the heterosexual
lifestyle. His comments, coupled with comments on health warnings
on cigarette packets, caused the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to
withdraw from an engagement to speak at the ACL's forthcoming
national conference.
Dr Jensen said Mr Wallace had "given
us an opportunity to talk about something significant, namely the
question of health risk".