Tim Farron has demanded critics respect his Christian views on gay sex.The leader of the Liberal Democrats, who is a self-confessing evangelical, said he did not understand why some were obsessed with his refusal to answer whether he thought gay sex was a sin.
He has repeatedly ducked answering if he thinks sex between homosexuals is sinful but told the Press Association on Sunday the question was "a peculiar one".
Asked whether he understood his critics' irritation at this stance, he said: "No, is the honest answer, because I think people look at my liberalism, my desire to support people's rights to make whatever choices they want, and I kind of also expect in the same way people – maybe it's a naive expectation – to respect my beliefs as a Christian.
"And obviously that means a whole range of things about how I then choose to live my life. It also means that I don't go around pointing the finger at anybody else."
He insisted he doesn't go around making pronouncements on "theological matters" and said that as "someone who is a liberal, everybody has the right to marry who they want to marry, love who they want to love, and that's the position we take".
As a Lib Dem MP in 2013 Farron voted in favour of the same-sex marriage bill in its early stages but abstained at the third reading. He later said he regretted his abstention because it made people think he was "lukewarm on equal marriage".
He told the Observer his decision was because "there were a couple of amendments that were about the protection of essentially religious minorities, conscience protections and I kind of voted for those".