Ian Paisley jnr has told Sam Lister of The Belfast Telegraph that he has “grown up” in his attitude to gay men and women.
The DUP MP was widely criticised for saying he was “repulsed” by homosexuality and believed it “harmed society” when he was a junior minister at Stormont.
Now, four years on, he says his stance has “matured”, although he still shrouded his comments with talk of sin.
“I think I have grown up since then,” he said. “I have strong Christian beliefs and moral viewpoints, but you have to realise that while sin is black and white, life is a lot of grey.
“You have to be mature about these things. I can strongly disagree with those viewpoints, but the point is how you disagree.”
The comments were made in a wide-ranging interview with the House Magazine.
When asked by the Belfast Telegraph what he meant when he talked about sin being black and white, he replied: “The article stands as it is, I’m not getting into definitions.”
He went on to state: “I would encourage people to read the House Magazine, it’s a good magazine,” when asked by this paper a series of questions about whether he regretted his comments in 2007.
Also in the magazine interview Mr Paisley said he had “no desire” to lead the DUP. He said “whoever” followed his father faced a big challenge, hinting at disquiet of Peter Robinson’s time at the helm.
On Mr Robinson’s General Election defeat during the fallout from his wife Iris’ affair, he added: “It has been a salient lesson to our leader and it affects how he has conducted himself, how he performs, and how he sees himself.”
Mr Paisley added that being an MLA was a beneficial part of his life, “but I knew that I wanted to be in the 600-year-old Parliament as opposed to the six-year-old one. Stormont is largely a grand county council.”
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Ian Paisley jnr sparked controversy in May 2007 when he spoke out against the gay community. He told Hot Press: “I am pretty repulsed by gay and lesbianism. I think it is wrong. I think that those people harm themselves — without caring about it — harm society”. He faced a backlash from MLAs and gay rights campaigners, who called the remarks “seriously harmful”.