'Too many gays in the army'

2006-10-12 14:56

London - Polish President Lech Kaczynski said in a British newspaper interview on Thursday that homosexuals were over-represented in the army, even while defending their rights.

In an interview with The Times, he said "I have heard that they (homosexuals) are over-represented in the army".

"But if you had an officer who tried to have an affair with a young conscript, then that would be inadmissible."

Against discrimination

However, he stressed his opposition to discrimination.

"I do not believe homosexuals should be discriminated against," Kaczynski said in the interview ahead of his visit to London next month.

"I have people with different sexual orientation in the circle of my private friends," although "they are not activists".

He added he is "not a doctor, not a sexologist, not an expert" but he fears that activists may promote homosexuality.

'Mankind would be doomed to extinction'

"I have 57 years of age behind me, and I have seen men dating girls and then I find that they are of a different orientation," he said.

If the numbers of homosexuals rose, he continued, "relations between men and women would be turned upside down" and "mankind would be doomed to extinction".

However, he said he was not as traditional nor as conservative as his critics maintain, even though he is a lifelong Catholic.

The interview did not touch on the current crisis in the Polish government coalition of conservatives and populists.

Kaczynski, whose twin brother Jaroslaw is prime minister, said his party's task is to "safeguard" Poland against "the many pathologies" of its past government, "which must be done away with," according to the interview.

Before his visit to London in November, the president said he feels in good company with Britain on European questions.

- AFP