Many thanks to Stretch (he reads Hot Press so we don’t have to!) for pointing us to the recent interview with Declan Ganley, the chairperson of Libertas.

(Green Ink – Irish blogging Cartoonist extraordinaire)

You might have seen Mr. Ganley on the Late Late Show on Friday night last, he has also been in Brussels recently. He’s getting ready for Lisbon the remix or the European Parliament elections which ever comes first.

It seems he shares a lot in common with Sarah Palin regarding issues of choice and homosexuality.

‘There is no harm being done to anybody (with homosexuality) – that’s something you choose to do yourself’

And no doubt some of his best friends are gay and a few of his employees/members (we’re everywhere!). I wonder what they think about their boss’s thoughts on the harm gays are not doing choosing their sexuality! Then again John McCain’s chief of staff is one of those ‘choosers’. It must take a special set of skills to work for campaigns which cast such assertions on one’s life.

Updated: The full quote on homosexuality from Hot Press thanks again to Stretch.

HotPress: As a Roman Catholic, you would obviously see homosexuality as a sin?
Declan Ganley: I’m a Roman Catholic! Look, people have free will, OK? And I respect that. There are gay people who work with me who are fantastic people but I’m not going to point the finger at anybody and say, ‘You’re doing wrong!’ Let me correct the wrongs and ills in myself before I start saying – holier than thou – ‘You’re doing something wrong!’ There is no harm being done to anybody (with homosexuality) – that’s something you choose to do yourself.

As a follow-up question, he was thrown the following:

HotPress: You could express an opinion if you wanted to….
Declan Ganley: I could if I wanted to! (Laughs)

He then went on to express his opposition to same-sex marriage, but said that he believed there needed to be an ability to protect property rights and inheritance rights, though he doesn’t know the answer to these things….