Gay Priest Says Homophobia Kept Him From AIDS Mission

Aug. 10, 2006 — -- The Rev. Fred Daley, 59, and a Roman Catholic priest, was scheduled to be on an AIDS mission to Africa last Sunday.

He had undergone months of training and was preparing to spend more than a year in Lesotho, where one-third of the population suffers from AIDS.

"The airline tickets had been sent," Daley said to ABC News. "There was no condition to that."

It turns out there was a condition, and now Daley won't be going anywhere.

On July 18, Daley was suddenly withdrawn from his mission to Lesotho by its organizers, Catholic Relief Services.

He says the reason: He is gay.

"This whole situation is surrounding homophobia," Daley said to ABC News.

Daley has publicly acknowledged his homosexuality since 2004, but he maintains his vow of celibacy.

Daley has also been an outspoken advocate for homosexual rights, appearing on ABC's "Nightline" with Cynthia McFadden in November 2005.

Michael Wiest, CRS chief executive officer, and Dave Piriano, a CRS vice president, said that it was not Daley's sexuality that had prompted their organization to take him off the mission.

They said that what had concerned them was that Daley was a public advocate of gay rights.

Wiest and Piriano say they were worried about the reaction from their camp in Africa.

"Lesotho [located deep in the southern tip of Africa] is a country of 1 million poor African peasants," Piriano said. "There are different societal norms there."

"Had we known earlier, we could have avoided so much controversy," Wiest said. "It is not that he is a gay celibate priest, but that he is a well-known activist throughout the United States. … We became concerned about his celebrity in the American dialogue distracting from the mission."

"It seems to me very clear that they are coming up with a way to cover homophobia and fear of homophobia," Daley said. The decision reminds him of racist hiring processes and the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, he said.