`Gays probably suffered from childhood emotional or sexual abuse`

The new imam at the Ground Zero mosque voices his concern for homosexuals.

New York: The new imam at the Ground Zero mosque and cultural centre has voiced his concern for homosexuals, saying that such people were probably abused in their childhood.

Abdallah Adhami, in a lecture on the Web site of his non-profit foundation, Sakeenah, said being gay is a "painful trial" caused by past trauma.

"An enormously overwhelming percentage of people struggle with homosexual feeling because of some form of violent emotional or sexual abuse at some point in their life," the New York Daily News quoted Adhami as saying.

"A small, tiny percentage of people are born with a natural inclination that they cannot explain. You find this in the animal kingdom at some level as well."

He also said that gays must fight this "propensity”.

ANI