Darren Hayes, best known for fronting
Savage Garden in the 90s, has described comments by the Australian
Salvation Army condemning homosexuality as “harmful to equality.”
The 40-year-old openly gay Hayes
launched a solo career in 2002 with his first studio album Spin.
He's also lending his talents to the Australian version of the
reality talent contest The Voice, joining Delta Goodrem's team
as a mentor.
In an online statement, the Salvation
Army stated that homosexuality was an “unacceptable urge” and
that it was opposed to the legalization of gay nuptials.
“Important for gay people to know the
true position of the Salvation Army when considering who to donate
to. Sad,” Hayes tweeted on June 14 to his more than 60,000
followers.
“Homosexual practice … is …
clearly unacceptable,” the organization's statement
reads in part. “Such activity is chosen behavior and is thus a
matter of the will. It is therefore able to be directed or
restrained in the same way heterosexual urges are controlled.
Homosexual practice would render any person ineligible for full
membership (soldiership) in the Army.”
Major Bruce Harmer, a spokesman for the
South Australian branch of the Salvation Army, said his group
believed that the statement “needs to be adjusted.”
“Those comments are made on an
international statement, and some years ago,” he told the
Australian
Broadcasting Company.
Harmer insisted that the Salvation Army
was “very much in support of helping [the] gay and lesbian
community as much as we can,” but added that it remains opposed to
marriage equality.