San Francisco, CA, April 8, 2008. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, receiving the Outspoken Award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. photo: STEVE FISCH

Thank you so very much. I wanted to pay a very warm tribute to yourselves, because you are such wonderful human beings. Frequently hounded, the butts of offensive jokes, discriminated against, vilified, molested, and even killed, as targets of homophobia. Most of you still manage to remain extraordinary human beings, compassionate, caring, self-sacrificing, refusing to be embittered, and quite extraordinarily gifted in so many, many ways. I know at close quarters, in a way, because two of my chaplains when I was incumbent Archbishop were gay. They now hold senior positions in our church. Thank you for being such wonderful human beings, and for your part in trying to help make our world a better place.

The prophet Jeremiah, some of you might recall, remonstrated with God on one occasion and said, "I didn't want to be a prophet. And most of the time that I have been prophet, you have made me utter words of condemnation and doom on a people, my people whom I love so very dearly. And when I say, 'No, I am not going to speak on your behalf, God, because you do this to me,' your word becomes like a fire in my breast," meaning that the imperative to speak against injustice and evil in his society was one that he could not avoid. I have wished many times that I could, I would shut up. And of course, there would be many who would have been relieved. Though we can say that I do have the freedom to speak or not to speak, in many ways, that is really only notional. I could just as well try not to breathe. So it isn't anything for which you want to commend me. I cannot but be as God has made me. And so I have spoken against the injustice of apartheid, racism, where people were penalized for something about which they could do nothing, their ethnicity. And so also, when women were penalized for their gender, I couldn't, even if I had tried, keep quiet. And so I supported the ordination of women as priests and bishops.

I therefore could not keep quiet, it was impossible, when people were hounded for something they did not choose, their sexual orientation. How sad, how tragic, that our church, the Anglican Church, the Episcopal Church should, at the present time, be so obsessed with this particular issue of human sexuality, at a time when God's children all over are facing massive, massive problems: poverty, disease, corruption, conflict. And I, for myself, imagine our Lord, who died for the world, not for the church, I imagine Jesus weeping. That at a time when people are hungry, people are dying often of preventable disease, when people are desperate, the church, the church of God, should be engaging in this particular matter.

And for what it is worth, my dear sisters and brothers, I ask for your forgiveness in the way in which we, the institutional church, have often ostracized you, made you feel as if God had made a mistake creating you as who you are. For we are those who are meant to care for one another, care for God's world, care for God's children, especially those who suffer injustice and oppression.

And you have been fantastic people in your commitment to justice and freedom, and the respect for human rights, here and in other parts of the world. On behalf of those who are the beneficiaries of your support and your commitment, thank you. Thank you.