ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Delegate Emmett Burns says he has always known that gay relationships were inappropriate, dating that knowledge back to his childhood when he was asked to perform sexual acts with adult men.
Burns, 71, told two House committees Friday that he opposes a bill they are considering to legalize gay marriage and that those childhood events helped him develop his opinion that gay sexual relationships, and therefore same sex marriages, are wrong.
The Democratic delegate said at ages 12 and 13 he was solicited by two different men, which made him feel uncomfortable. He said he knew the behavior they were asking him to perform "wasn't natural."
Burns said he had never spoken about the incidents, but felt the committee hearing was an appropriate place to "out" his secret.
